The Dirt: Millennium Monroe brings walking focus to neighborhood

The first apartment building of a major mixed-use project called Millennium Monroe is just months from completion, and work is progressing to move Indaba Coffee and Ballard Pizza CO. next door.

The plan originally called for a floor of commercial space under the building filled with apartments, said James Gallina, a partner with Spokane-based Millennium Northwest.

“During COVID, commercial real estate had taken a nosedive and we couldn’t get a loan for the commercial portion of the mixed-use,” he said.

So, they split the project into two portions. The residential side includes two apartments buildings that will eventually have 89 units of one- and two-bedroom apartments at 2002 N. Monroe St.

The first apartment building, which includes 46 single- and double-room apartments, is fully under construction, said Gallina, who spoke as he was standing on the building’s second floor.

“We are starting to put the cabinetry in this week. The first building should be done in October,” he said. “We are excited to have these up and running before winter.”

Millennium also bought the former Silver Collector Car Auctions at 2020 N. Monroe. That will house Indaba’s new headquarters and roasting operations as well as a Ballard Pizza Co. by Seattle chef Ethan Stowell, who has similar pizza restaurants in Seattle and Woodinville, Washington.

“We are hoping to have Indaba’s cafe built out before Christmas,” Gallina said.

Permits for the Ballard Pizza renovation are expected to be submitted next month, he said.

Gallina and his cohorts, which include founding partners Caroline Yu and Antony Chiang, said they have turned down about 100 commercial tenants as they try to find businesses that fit with their concept.

Along with Indaba and Ballard Pizza, the commercial side has an opening for one more business.

“We are hoping for a brewery or a taproom or distillery or some other gathering place,” he said.

The controversial move by the city of Spokane to narrow Monroe Street in 2018, – later praised by many of the business leaders that earlier had fought it – attracted Millennium Northwest to that location, Gallina said.

“We saw the investment the city had made into Monroe Street,” he said. “I can’t say we would have built here if there were still two lanes of traffic in each direction. We are hoping as a company to catalyze the walking district by providing density.”

The project is being designed by architect Licia LeGrant of Bernardo Wills, of Spokane, and Baker Construction, also of Spokane, is the contractor.

Millennium also in Garland

As work progresses with Millennium Monroe, crews also are building another Millennium Northwest Project at 706 W. Garland Ave., Gallina said.

That project, called North Hill in Garland, follows what had been the original plan for Monroe, with 60 apartments built above commercial space in a true mixed-use development.

“We’ve broken ground and expect to be complete in about a year’s time,” he said.

North Hill’s four-story apartment building also will feature one- and two-bedroom apartments.

“It would be far simpler, as a company, to buy five acres in the suburbs and build three-story walk-ups,” Gallina said. “But we believe our future tenants will look at these as places to live rather than places to sleep.

“They will walk out their doors and think of the neighborhood as their neighborhood.”

Bernardo Will and Baker Construction also are working with Millennium Northwest on North Hill, he said.

Crashing Goat

The owners of The Flying Goat submitted a permit with the city of Spokane to repair their building at 3318 W. Northwest Blvd. after it apparently was struck by a vehicle.

The scope of the work includes replacing the roof and repairing framing “due to a vehicle impact.”

Shay Cummings, one of the owners of Capstone Construction, said his company has been ramping up to get materials ready “so we can hit the ground running I believe in the next couple of weeks.”

Its unclear when, exactly, the collision occurred. The work to fix the building was estimated at about $15,500.

“It happened quite a while ago,” Cummings said. “It did a fair amount of damage to the roof structure.”

At the same time the repairs are done, the owners also planned some minor remodel work, he said. “That kind of delayed things.”

Cummings said it was his understanding that the restaurant planned to remain open during the work. Efforts to reach Flying Goat co-owner Jonathan Sweatt were unsuccessful.