Building Overview

The complex is located a block south of Trent midway between SIRTI and Division at 131 E. Main Avenue. The new SIRTI wet labs are located across the street and the proposed WSU library will also be adjacent to the building.

The complex consists of 184,000 square feet of former warehouse space, or 4.25 acres under one roof. The entire building is fully sprinklered and fully electrified and lit. An existing alarm is installed and monitored for fire and security.

The central section, built in 1910, is a six-story brick building with 18,500 square feet per floor. Only the top floor, which served as Jensen-Byrd's showroom, is currently air-conditioned, with a large wall-mounted unit. A larger, roof-mounted system may be inoperable. The sixth floor also has plastered walls and posts and could easily be adapted for Class B office space. The first two floors are directly connected to an attached two-story building with 16,400 square feet per floor. All the floors are heated with a combination of gas-fired forced air and gas-fired steam radiators. Ceiling-mounted electric outlets are located roughly every 10 feet, but in many locations are used to plug in ceiling-mounted fluorescent light fixtures. The floors in the six-story building are mostly finished in hardwood. The floors in the two-story building are wood plank. All the floors have good views of the mountains, the South Hill, or the river. The top three floors have views of Downtown. Train lovers also have a good view of the BNSF viaduct.

All the floors have high ceilings, with beam heights from 8 feet to 11 feet. The lowest ceiling height is 9'8".

Multiple telephone lines run to the sixth floor. Phone lines are also installed on the first floor. Presumeably conduit is available for phone lines to other floors, if necessary. There are seven loading bays in the two-story building and a working conveyor belt from the full basement, which is naturally cool year-round. There is one express passenger elevator that stops only at the first, fifth and sixth floors. Two freight elevators serve the six-story building (which is essentially connected to the two-story building). Another freight elevator was removed from the two-story building. The opening could be used for a new elevator, a grand staircase, or an escalator.

The East Wing, built in 1946, consists of 16,800 square feet resembling an airplane hangar 60 feet wide and 280 feet long. The ceiling height is 31 feet and the height to the trusses is 21 feet. Three extremely large wooden doors allow excellent access from the front, depending on the use. One large door opens to the north, where an abandoned rail line once ran. This property is owned by the City and might be used as parking. The East Wing also has another large door on the east end, although it would be limited to pedestrian access because of the raised WSU parking lot just outside. This building is uninsulated, but the enormous open space allows for all kinds of opportunities. For example, an art-film theater like the Magic Lantern could be built inside, adjacent to an international video store associated with a web-based video rental business. There's also room for a collection of foreign food restaurants and a public radio auditorium.

A 225-foot-long shed roughly 30 feet wide runs alongside the East Wing. The shed is fully roofed. Fiberglass panels in the south wall allow some light. This section would make an ideal location for a permanent farmer's market with roughly 44 10'x10' booths.

The West Wing, built in 1973, is a fully-insulated steel-frame building with no plumbing, but forced-air gas heating. It has 5,800 square feet (50 feet wide and 120 feet long). The floor is concrete. There are a couple of large garage doors providing access. The insulation provides enough sound-proofing that the building could be used as a sound stage for videotaping and filming, and as rehearsal space for bands and other musical groups, and for recording orchestral performances or movie soundtracks. This building could be replaced with a full-scale Hollywood-style soundstage of 14,000 to 16,000 square feet, with 40-foot ceilings.

There are restrooms on the first, fifth, and sixth floors.

There is very little parking directly associated with the building, but it's surrounded by underutilized parking lots and vacant lots owned by WSU and the WSU Foundation. These spaces can be leased for $100 per year.The strip behind the building measures roughly 30 feet by 677 feet and could accommodate as many as 70 cars parallel-parked on either side or in angle parking. The city apparently owns this land, and would have to grant permission for parking there. A large, currently unpaved lot in front of the West Wing could hold another 300 or so cars. Toe-in parking along Main Street might accommodate 20 cars, leaving room for access to the loading bays. The total adjacent parking would accommodate 120 cars. In the winter, the shed could be used for covered parking for maybe 10-20 cars, but that would be unavailable during the farmer's market season.

Fortunately, the vacant lot in front of the building, which is included in the lease, measures roughly 280 feet by 200 feet and could hold maybe 220 more cars.

The WSU lot immediately to the east holds 29 cars and hundreds more beyond. It's possible that WSU would be willing for the foreseeable future to allow employees in the project to buy permits to park in these lots.