September 29, 2023

Offices to apartments … in Spokane? Yes, Spokane

Photo via Kiemle Hagood [enlarge]

The Peyton’s ground floor now has a few wine bars, a restaurant and coffee shop. Above, Coffman Engineers recently exited its 21,000 square feet of offices.

Having invested a bit over $12.2 million in a century-old office building in downtown Spokane, 4 Degrees Capital is serious about converting the old structure to apartments.

The Peyton Building, at 10 N. Post St., is now a seven-story masonry structure with offices over retail and restaurants.

The developer recently filed plans with the city to convert the upper six levels, with about 93,000 square feet, into 96 apartments. No parking is proposed. The city's public comment period ends on Oct. 10.

Spokane firms Trek Architecture and T.W. Clark Construction, both frequent collaborators with 4 Degrees, are leading the conversion effort.

The original red-brick Romanesque-style building was developed circa 1898 with five stories; two more floors were added in 1908, along with a seven-story south addition with markedly lighter masonry, terra cotta details and more Chicago-style architectural lines. Joined into one structure, with elevators, the Peyton Building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Rendering by Trek Architecture [enlarge]

An exploded view of how some of the dark interior space might be repurposed, next to one of two small air shafts.

The Spokane brokerage, development and investment firm 4 Degrees, run by brothers Jordan and Joel Tampien, has experience with vintage downtown buildings. It previously converted an old garage into 11 apartments over retail, dubbed Lolo Lofts. An old factory building is now the Roxy, with 21 furnished rentals that also serve as extended-stay accommodations. The brothers also co-own Brick West Brewing Co., with partners, and have other investors in the Peyton project.

All these projects, including the Peyton, are a few blocks apart. All were also designed by Trek.

Not long after the February purchase, 4 Degrees told the Spokesman-Review that Peyton units would range from studios to two-bedrooms, with future rents to be a little less than market-rate. Jordan Tampien told the paper that the model was “livable housing,” not luxury or low-income. Over here, we'd call that workforce housing.

The original Peyton and its addition extend corner to corner on its block, with a footprint of some 15,212 square feet. City records and old leasing flyers say there were renovations in the 1980s, 1990s, 2001 and 2020. Whether that included seismic work is unclear.

The upper floors are now configured as small offices. The complex has windows on its three main faces, and two small interior light wells (or air shafts, if you prefer).

The Peyton's east neighbor on the same block is the STA Plaza, a bus depot. That rises to fourth floor of the Peyton, which does appear to have a few random east windows overlooking the station.

In Trek's early design studies, visible on social media, the light wells would be preserved, and some of the otherwise dark interior space could become a gym with two-story climbing wall, a leasing office and — on the top two floors — a double-height atrium with mezzanine to enclose a library and garden.