The Dirt: Residential community planned near Thorpe Road

A community consisting of 47 single-family homes is planned for the Grandview/Thorpe Neighborhood, according to plans submitted to the city of Spokane last week.

Development would encompass around six acres of land at 2710 W. Thorpe Road. The vacant land was purchased by the Easy Home Buyer, a Spokane-based real estate firm, in August for $350,000, according to Spokane County property records.

The firm is owned by Chad Young, a Coeur d’Alene native that flips more than 50 homes every year in Spokane and his hometown, according to his website.

Application documents submitted to the city for the project list Todd Whipple, president of Whipple Consulting Engineers, a Spokane Valley-based firm, as the point of contact. He could not be immediately reached Thursday afternoon.

The application comes on the heels of another planned community in the area that recently submitted an application for the development of 157 homes at 3504 S. Inland Empire Way.

The project has been halted for years by a housing moratorium that was implemented to buy time for utility upgrades to meet the increasing housing density in the area along Highway 195, according to previous Spokesman-Review reports.

According to the application, the Thorpe Road long plat project will cost about $2.8 million. Individual lots will range from 0.05 acres to 0.09 acres.

The Red Lion building redevelopment

A developer is planning to remodel the upper two floors of the building that once housed the Red Lion Pub, according to permits submitted to the city of Spokane.

Jeremy Tangen, founder and owner of Tangen Hospitality, purchased the building at 126 N. Division street in August for roughly $1.6 million.

He said no definite plans have been decided for the upper floors.

“Right now we are just cleaning-up the building,” Tangen said. “We’re still estimating what we can do to get a good return-on-lease, but the market isn’t too favorable right now.”

Tangen owns other nearby bars and restaurants including Borracho Tacos & Tequileria, Globe Nightclub and Fast Eddie’s.

In place of the Red Lion Pub, restaurant and bar Pure Northwest opened in June.

Plans submitted to the city last month included the demolition of walls, ceilings and bathroom fixtures.

“It may be two years before we do anything, when it’s more viable,” he said. “We have no timeline. We’re holding tight for now.”

The upper floors were once home to low-income residents before they were pushed out by their previous owner, Melvin “MJ” Reisenauer, in February.

Today, no one resides in its upper floors, according to Tangen.

The Viking to rebuild

Owners of the Viking, a bar and grill near the Spokane Arena, are planning to rebuild property that was damaged in a fire earlier this year.

In July, a fire sparked by a cigarette razed the entrance of the establishment, according to Spokesman-Review reports. It caused around $40,000 of damage, according to a news release from the Spokane Fire Department.

At 1221 N. Stevens St., the restaurant opened back to its full capacity a few weeks later, according to its Facebook page.

A permit application submitted to the city of Spokane shows its owners, Greg Healy, Darin Talotti, Krista Christofferson and Steven Barclay, are planning to repair the damaged entryway.

The owners were not immediately reached Thursday afternoon.