University District Urban Amenities + Financing Strategy
Spokane, WA · 2022–2025
Client: Spokane University District Public Development Authority
Location: Spokane, WA
Year: 2022–2025 (two phases)
CP Role: Lead consultant
Practice Area: Real Estate + Feasibility
Team: Alex Joyce, Development Strategy; Sachi Arakawa, Project Manager (2022 study); Allison Platt, Project Manager (2025 strategy); Lanier Hagerty and Rhey Haggerty, Analysts
The Challenge
Spokane's University District is an industrial area in transition, and its leaders knew good parks, plazas, and markets would draw private investment. They needed to know which amenities mattered most and how Washington law would let them pay for them.
Our Approach
We modeled the district twice in UrbanFootprint, once as business as usual and once with new amenities, to isolate the development those amenities could add. We then studied the public-private deal structures behind comparable districts, from Portland's Central Eastside to Austin's Seaholm District, and matched their tools to what Spokane can use.
Outcome
The District came away with a measure of what its amenity investments could add and a prioritized set of financing tools, each legal in Washington and drawn from deals that worked elsewhere.
Related Projects
