Spokane has it districts and highrises in motion (Not nearly the size of cities listed above) but the Kendall Yards project just alone in Spokane is going to be a 80 acre residential, commerical, expansion of downtown to the north bank of the Spokane river.
Seattle P.I.:
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Steel rails, wooden cross-ties and canvas tents on the riverbanks marked this farm and railroad town's start.
Now, a developer is looking at an abandoned train yard to launch an economic future that includes concrete condominiums and walks on a bluff overlooking the Spokane River.
Billed as the city's largest urban infill project in decades, Kendall Yards sits on 80 acres on the north bank of the Spokane River in the northwestern corner of downtown.
The site is essentially a blank slate, with no decrepit old buildings that need to be torn down, or renovated, as occurs in most urban redevelopment projects.
A former railroad locomotive repair yard contaminated by spilled fuel, it was transformed during a yearlong "brownfields" cleanup that won national awards.
Now, Marshall Chesrown, a Spokane native who made his fortune selling cars with Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, is developing the mixed-use pedestrian neighborhood that has been called a boon for Spokane's anemic economy.
"To really grow Spokane's economy, you need an influx of outside capital," Chesrown said during a recent interview in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, headquarters of his Black Rock Developments, which builds exclusive residential and golf community projects. "Someone's got to be willing to take the risk."
As envisioned, the Kendall Yards project will build 2,600 residences and 1 million square feet of commercial and office space with an "urban village" look. Initial plans call for a 20-year buildout of the entire $1 billion project.
Kendall Yards is the largest urban planning venture in Spokane since unsightly railroad yards in the middle of the city gave way to a world exposition in 1974.
When completed, the Kendall Yards project will include upscale condominiums and residences and retail shops that are pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
"It may be the most significant piece of developable property in the country," Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession said. "It's the single-most significant construction project in the history of the city. It changes the landscape of downtown."
Hession jumped on board early and took the unusual step of creating teams within city departments to facilitate the project. The city created nine more positions in its Building Department to handle the anticipated Kendall Yards work load.
"There will be a lot of unique challenges," Hession said. "We will be dropping a huge development into the middle of an urban area."
"To find 80 acres in the core of a city anywhere in the United States, we don't think it exists," said Chesrown, calling his project "a once in a lifetime opportunity for Spokane."
Andy Kunz of NewUrbanism.org said Kendall Yards appears to be unique because it is being built on land never before developed, but there more than 4,000 "new urbanist" projects planned or under construction in the country; half of them in historic urban centers.
NewUrbanism.org is an organization that promotes the creation and restoration of pedestrian-friendly mixed-use downtown communities of homes, offices, shops and parks with increased use of trains and light rail