The former Hostess / Wonder Bread factory building ( 821 W. Mallon, Mallon & Post ) near Spokane Arena is one of the keys to future development in Downtown Spokane. The historic brick building has sat vacant since 2000 with thousands of square feet of space just screaming for new life. It's just steps away from the Spokane Arena and the north side of Riverfront Park, it's among the primest of the prime real estate in the Lilac City
Last fall some hope came forward with an 11th hour sale just before the building was to be foreclosed on. The building owners are now Wonder Spokane,LLC with no specific names to be found and just a listed address of what appears to be a financial firm in Denver. For the longest time they have been tight lipped on what they are planning only indicating they do plan to do something with the space.
But for a recent pre-development conference with the City of Spokane, Wonder Spokane,LLC presented a series of documents detailing example plans for the building designed by Wolfe Architectural Group of Spokane. There is still no timeline for construction / opening , but we now know they intend to have commercial uses and no residential component shown. The plan also includes-
- A new parking garage with entry from the north off of Mallon in-between the existing ( and not included ) David's Pizza building and the corner of Lincoln. This area today is also used for parking but is just a surface lot used mostly just during events at Spokane Arena. The garage will also have some limited retail space on the ground floor.
- The main structure stays mostly as is with a new more modern looking addition of a third story on the west end and a second and third story to the east.
- The first floor includes space set aside for an up to 11,045 square foot " artisan food market "
- Most of the rest of the space is shown being divided into " commercial lease space " , likely assuming first floor retail or restaurant and office space elsewhere. These spaces include 19,000+ square feet on floor 1, 15,000+ square feet on floor 2 and 3,000+ square feet on floor 3 .
- A large section of level 3 is set aside as " assembly " space, likely meaning an event center or possibly a restaurant. This space is almost 5,000 square feet with a large 1,000+ square foot outdoor terrace attached.
Out of respect for the developer we won't run any screenshots of the plans or renderings ( unless they contact me with some, hint hint... ) . But it does appear a lot of thought has been put into this and if built this project would spur a new future not just for this building but much of the neighborhood south of Spokane Arena. Perhaps we may even see an Inland Northwest Business Watch office in this building some day!
Other then your favorite local blogger occupying office space, what else do you hope to see open for business one day in the Wonder Bread building? I know I for one am very excited about the possibilities of the " artisan food market " space. Let us know you thoughts via Facebook, in the comments to this story on http://www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch
