The renovations of the former Ridpath Hotel are about to get underway. While legal issues and battles over ownership has caused the project to freeze multiple times, this time it finally feels real.
Local developer Ron Wells has cleared the last of the hurdles and even brought on Baker Construction & Development as the project's contractor to begin converting the Ridpath into an exciting new development called the Ridpath Club Apartments. The City of Spokane also recently issued the project a building shell permit indicating this plan is about to go from the dreams of many to actual fruition.
And, what makes the possibility of a new Ridpath even more exciting is that it was recently announced that the ground floor restaurant space is now already spoken for and we'll be seeing a popular local chef opening , not 1 but 2 new places within the renovated space facing W. Sprague.
Chef Jeremy Hansen, of Sante' , Inland Pacific Kitchen and a couple of other ventures will open a traditional French brasserie called Brasserie Ridpath in a portion of the space. And, in what remains he will open Octopus Gin, a nautical themed bar with a dining menu with Asian inspirations, and we assume plenty of gin. Both will likely open later this year but no opening date has been set yet.
Most of the rest of building will be divided up into apartments, 206 in all , designed to be priced affordability so that Downtown workers, young professionals and the like will be able to live close to action of Downtown Spokane. Many of the apartments will be small " micro-apartment " style rental units that will be under 500 square feet. A few condo's will also be offered on the upper floors where a night club once sat. Of course the entire building has sat empty since 2008 when a Las Vegas based investor abruptly closed the hotel which had suffered low revenue and other issues in it's last few years open as a hotel.
For a look inside of the Ridpath and some information from investor / developer Ron Wells here is a video of him speaking with KXLY ( this blog is not affiliated with KXLY )
I'm sure there will be more to come on this story, including more details on the two new restaurants planned for the Ridpath. So keep checking back and follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch
