New Spirit For Spokane
Major mixed-use redevelopment puts Spokane, Washington, on the map.
Susan H. Fishman

Inside River Park Square, Spokane, Washington.

Since its redevelopment in 1999, River Park Square has been a catalyst for the revitalization of Downtown Spokane, Washington. The regional shopping, dining and entertainment center has brought a number of new national retailers to the market, as well as a new wave of residential, commercial, hospitality, educational and governmental development that has breathed new life into the city. 

Originally developed in 1974 for the World’s Fair, River Park Square was redeveloped as a joint project with the City of Spokane to spark a renaissance of the urban core. With 373,000 square feet of retail space over five floors, the project covers two full city blocks and features close to 50 national and local retailers unique to the region. The center’s redevelopment opened in 1999 to rave reviews, as many of the best-known national merchants came to Spokane for the first time — tenants such as Ann Taylor, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Eddie Bauer, Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Over the course of the next few years, with leasing at roughly 80 percent, the center needed a strong dose of marketing, management and leasing. So the Cowles family, who own and manage River Park Square, brought in Robert Smith of Centennial Properties to step things up. Currently at 96 percent occupancy, the center was slow to lease up, says Smith. In search of retailers that would complement tenants like Nordstrom, Ann Taylor, Chico’s and Williams-Sonoma, Smith found that many didn’t know Spokane.

Exterior view of River Park Square.

“Many people who would shop for variety and better-priced merchandise would travel the four and half hours to Seattle,” he says. “We became kind of a fly-over for merchants who were going to land in Seattle first and then take a look at us.”

But once Smith’s team was able to get the retailers’ senior executives to stop in Spokane and showed them the activity downtown, the cleanliness of the area and the quality of the shopping public, they began to realize that Spokane was, in fact, their demographic. They also discovered that River Park Square, which is located just 2 hours from the Canadian border, draws heavily from Canada.

“We offer the only Nordstrom between Seattle and Minneapolis, so that’s obviously a huge draw,” adds Smith. “When you couple that with stores like Chico’s, Ann Taylor and Williams-Sonoma that are very unique, we became a destiny for a lot of people.”

River Park Square at night.

Since 1999, River Park Square has experienced more than $3 billion of investment in downtown buildings. New residential properties in Downtown Spokane include upscale condominiums, lofts and luxury penthouses. More than 568 residential units have been completed or announced in the past 2 years, and a 10-year, $810 million development near the urban core will bring an additional 2,600 units.

Hotel redevelopment has also contributed to the economy. The Davenport, a100-year-old, grand hotel has been completely refurbished with a new tower, adding 170 more rooms to the downtown mix. Much like the Davenport, the Montvale hotel, an old hotel that had fallen into disrepair, has been restored to its original luster by a local entrepreneur.

In addition, the Opera House and Spokane Convention Center, which was built for the World’s Fair, have been completely remodeled and expanded to include tens of thousands of square feet of display and exhibit space. Other developments include the Morgan building, which sat empty for a number of years. Now filled with retail on the first level and condominiums on the upper level, the renovated building is almost sold out. And another condo project, right across the river, is completely sold out and growing rapidly.

West 809 is another recent project, owned by CPC Development Company and located directly across Main Street from the front entrance of River Park Square. Built in the early 1970s, it was originally the JC Penney building. When JC Penney moved out of the central business district, the building was converted to a Burlington Coat Factory for a short while and then sat vacant for about 6 years. The redevelopment includes quality retail tenants, such as P.F. Chang’s, Jos A. Bank and 24-Hour Fitness. Centennial Properties worked with local developer Ron Wells on the residential portion of the project, which includes 20 condominiums and is still under construction.

Stunning design sets apart River Park Square and has made it a place that retailers have to be.

“One of the unique opportunities we had was the fact that the building had 20-foot high ceilings, so from a residential standpoint, that gave us the opportunity to make the condominiums truly  loft-style.”

West 809 is also connected to River Park Square via a skywalk so residents can walk right across the skywalk to shop.

“With the connection to River Park Square, we’ve really built in an entertainment value with the condos,” notes Rob McOmie, general manager for River Park Square.

The entertainment at River Park Square includes a 20-screen AMC Theater and Kress Gallery, an art gallery and community meeting space. The center is also adjacent to the Davenport Arts District, a three square block, urban area with several live performance venues, numerous nightclubs, restaurants and eateries. As a Shop America destination, River Park Square has developed an innovative Stay, Shop, Symphony package that includes overnight accommodations at the historic, four-diamond Davenport Hotel, a shopping certificate at River Park Square and tickets to a performance of the award-winning Spokane Symphony.

The center also includes the Northwest’s first shopping center-based wine bar and tasting room, a hands-on children’s museum and science center, a strategic cluster of children’s stores and interactive retail outlets and the expansion of locally owned restaurants and distinctive eateries.

Over the past several months, River Park Square has welcomed new national tenants, including J. Jill, White House/Black Market and Canadian-based Chatters Salon, which is completing a flagship U.S. store. Chico’s has undergone significant expansion, along with two locally owned retail outlets, Boehm’s Chocolates and Flowers, and Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar.

Inside River Park Square.

The center’s award-winning design by Callison Architecture of Seattle features a five-story glass atrium, which serves as a plaza for community and special events.

The atrium area sits right across the street from the Spokane River and Park.

“It’s really an urban setting with a suburban feel,” says Smith. “It’s very unique and has some throwbacks to an old-time retail design.”

River Park Square’s traditional, central-business-district retail design includes large show windows, interesting brick and cornice work and an interior designed to emulate a streetscape.

“The work that was done on the tile and the cement inside makes it look like you’ve got a wet streetscape,” says McOmie. “The lighting is set with the mood of starlight and moonlight, almost like a Paris street after a rainstorm. It just creates some great excitement.”


©2007 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.