Market Making

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON - You won't find a Nordstrom or a Macys, a Target or a Kohl's on Market Street in the historic Hillyard neighborhood in northeast Spokane.

But you will find small businesses. Lots of them. An antiques mall. Appliance and auto repair shops. A used book store. A place where you can find a good price on tires and another where you can enjoy a great cup of coffee.

Small business, all finding it hard to make a go of it in the best of times, so much the harder in economic times like these.

It's been that way for a while. First platted in the 1890's and annexed by the City in the 1920's, the area boomed and bustled as a rail center into the 1980's. But then the trains left the neighborhood behind. It's been a struggle ever since.

But thanks to the persistence, even passion of local businesses and civic associations, Spokane City Hall has fully committed itself to revitalizing the area. In 2009, the area was selected as one of seven Target Area Development (TAD) projects where, explained Mayor Mary Verner, the City would brings its resource to bear in developing infrastructure projects and incentive programs that grow industries and bring career opportunities to our community while helping to build small business districts focused on vibrant retail areas that support healthy neighborhoods.

The City's initial investments weren't particularly splashy. But they were absolutely critical. If you'd visited the area a couple of years ago, one of the first things you'd have notice was a lack of infrastructure. Unpaved roads and cracked sidewalks. Inadequate water and sewer service. Bad lighting and spotty, at best, Internet capability.

Thanks to Washington Department of Transportation grants and funding from the City's CDBG and Recovery Act programs, the City committed almost $5 million for curb to curb reconstruction of streets, to install new sewer and water lines and to streetscape Market Street, the main thoroughfare. The investments started to pay off quickly and, says the City, have already garnered another $17 million in public and private funds to improve the look, the feel and, as a result, its competitive position.

When it designated the area for the TAD program, the City envisioned a high intensity mixed-use development with a full range of retail services and a range of housing choices to a diverse population. That too is already coming true.

In October, for example, Inland Empire Residential Resources, a local non-profit, celebrated the grand opening of Market Street Station, a historic bank building that's been transformed into a 33-unit affordable rental complex for the elderly. A month later, Northeast Washington Housing Solutions the City's housing authority broke ground, thanks to a $2.5 million loan from the Washington Housing Trust Fund and a HUD lead abatement grant, on a 51 unit rental complex, with 26 units set aside for veterans. Northeast Washington Housing Solutions also has announced plans to upgrade two apartment complexes in Hillyard.

Even better, the City is also making investments to develop a TAD just to the south of the Market Street area as an industrial park. And, just to the east, a new freeway is planned to connect the area to Interstate 90 which runs coast-to-coast from just south of the Space Needle in Seattle to the to Logan Airport in Boston. Once left behind by the trains, today thanks to private commitment and public investments - Hillyard is rapidly redeveloping and reconnecting itself to the world at large.

"Public investment alone can't save a neighborhood from market forces," said HUD's Northwest Regional Director Mary McBride. "But targeted public investment in collaboration with private commitments can restore the vitality and insure the sustainability of a neighborhood. That's what we're seeing at work in Hillyard and HUD is proud to be a part of it."

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