SPOKANE, Wash. – As life returns to normal, the business casualties of COVID-19 are coming to the surface. One big question: Are the tall buildings in downtown Spokane sitting empty? Are people returning to work downtown?
The answer is: That’s a loaded question. There’s definitely been a change in the way people use office spaces and there are definitely companies walking away from their leases.
President and CEO of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, Mark Richard, said the downtown working population is about 60,000 people. Throughout the pandemic, it’s estimated that 70% fewer people were working downtown. Right now, that number is climbing and we’re probably in the mid-30s to 40% of pre-pandemic numbers, as for empty office spaces that’s something we currently have in Spokane.
Craig Soehren, a broker for Kimle Hagood, said with loss comes opportunity. Soehren said it’s true that there are multiple office spaces in downtown Spokane sitting empty that were vacated due to the pandemic. But what we are seeing are those spaces evolving into a new business or being acquired by neighboring businesses to expand their space. “I would say there was an outflow quite honestly, I would say we probably increased our vacancy by 5% downtown,” Soehren said. “I think that’s going to stabilize as companies especially national companies and some of the larger regional companies get back to work.” Soehren said many larger companies are affording their employees the option to stay at home as opposed to returning to the office, adding that there’s a real expansion currently in the Spokane Valley. Many companies are opting to move to the valley where there are larger spaces available that can have more open floor plans, unlike traditional office space. Soehren said he’s confident Spokane will return to its normal downtown workflow and right now there’s interest in downtown space from companies in Seattle looking to expand into our region. With this exodus from downtown Spokane during the pandemic it hurt businesses like dry cleaners, restaurants, retail and event spaces. This because their core customer base was gone. Empty restaurants and retail shops with closed signs in the windows are the more visible business scars of the pandemic. Soehren pointed to the beloved downtown pizza shop “Rocky Rococo’s” closing, explaining that even though the business is gone, there is now an opportunity for a new restaurant to move in, which is currently in the process of happening. As event centers in downtown Spokane, they have had to hang on tightly. Mary Keyes is the co-owner of the Compass Room on top of the Paulsen Building and said before the pandemic hit they were hosting business functions and events seven days a week. The Compass Room is located in the historic Paulsen Penthouse at the top of the Paulsen Building. The Keyes Family took over the space in late 2018 and made it operational in 2019. They pumped a ton of money into renovating it and turning it into an event space, Keyes said throughout the pandemic they did no business and the reopening is a massive blessing for her family’s business. “It’s a fresh start, the phones are ringing, it’s super exciting I’ve got a couple of tours.. I’ve got an event on Saturday it brings tears to my eyes, it’s really happy times.” Keyes said with the capacity restrictions lifting they’ll be able to host afternoon business functions along with weddings again. During the pandemic, the space was used a few times for depositions but nothing compared to what they did pre-pandemic
