While the Kendall Yards project has received most of the publicity for it’s commercial and residential development along Bridge Street in the West Central neighborhood, there are also other publicly funded community development projects slated for the year ahead, most notably a community development block grant (cdbg) comprised of both state and federal dollars. The project will focus on Broadway between Maple and Oak streets and may, funds permitting, stretch further west toward Walnut street in the future.

The neighborhood is currently without any decent business core that attracts both people and dollars — like the Garland District to our north and the Cannon/Pacific block in Browne’s Addition to our south. There are several social hotspots closer to the Broadway/Monroe block, which serve many of the folks who pass through the County facilities, but commercial space west of the civil district is primarily loaded with legal service offices. Diversifying the business climate west of Maple will add West Central to the Spokane map as a must-see district, rather than a must-avoid district, as its rather unfair and ruthless moniker “felony flats” implies.

A new day is dawning for Spokane’s West Central neighborhood, and this combination of private (kendall) and public (broadway) projects is, indeed, an outward and physical sign of an inward and spiritual reality — or, as the church would say, a ’sacrament.’ Add to that business mix the very proactive culture of neighborly care and concern in West Central, and you’ve got a fairly good recipe for responsible community development. The churches, public schools, and social service agencies are all at the table together, thoughtfully considering the cost/benefit ratios of development in the area — asking the basic question, “how can the future of West Central be good for everyone?”

Read the whole story on the Broadway project here.
Read more about the Kendall Yards project here.
Read more about the West Central neighborhood here.