Slow Economy Slowing Downtown Spokane Development

clipped from www.spokesmanreview.com Kendall Yards developing slowly At 78 acres of mostly bare dirt, the site of the proposed Kendall Yards development overlooking the Spokane River is a conspicuous piece of real estate. After all the attention its developer received for an ambitious plan to build hundreds of homes and provide space for businesses there, however, heads are turning for a different reason: Nothing has been built. Developer Marshall Chesrown admits the mixed-use project in Spokane is at least six months behind schedule, and the scope of its first phase has basically been cut in half - from nearly 750,000 square feet of commercial space and 800 homes to 440,000 square feet of space and roughly 350 residences. But Chesrown rebuffs suggestions that a struggling real estate market or the lending crunch have jeopardized his project. Chesrown now hopes to have completed homes and shops on the parcel between Monroe and Maple streets in two years.