Spokane reviews citywide property strategy; JLL contract, grant-funded asset pilot highlighted

Spokane city officials used a monthly budget discussion to outline a coordinated effort to assess and better use municipal real estate, including a City Hall space‑utilization study, an active commercial brokerage engagement with JLL and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation‑funded "Putting Assets to Work" pilot, presenters and staff said.

City staff summarized a utilization study by Entegris that found City Hall is used at about 60 percent of capacity and developed a set of guiding principles and "must haves" for the building, including improved meeting‑room technology, a more welcoming entrance and better wayfinding. "We need to make our public spaces very accessible," Matt, a city staff member, said during the presentation.

The study team recommended designing adaptable workspaces for differing departmental needs, integrating daylight and views of the river and park, and producing short‑term "face lift" improvements for the lobby while longer consolidation or build‑out options are analyzed. City staff said Entegris still has roughly 40 contract hours remaining; those hours likely will be used to meet individually with council members and to refine deliverables before any decisions about costly floor‑by‑floor renovations are made.

Separately, city officials described a competitive selection that brought Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) on to provide commercial brokerage and portfolio analytics services. Mike Sherpa, a JLL representative, said the firm is deploying local market research and proprietary tools (including the company’s "Blackbird" mapping and portfolio analytics) to inventory leases and assess market comparables, vacancy and occupancy trends.

Sherpa said the tools can help the city evaluate whether to lease, hold or divest property and to estimate costs tied to tenant improvements and regulatory compliance. "We invest in technology that helps our clients make better decisions," Sherpa said. JLL staffers walked the council through examples of recent local deals and trends — including firms shrinking assigned‑desk footprints and investing more per square foot in higher‑quality, hybrid‑oriented office space — and flagged the Washington Clean Buildings Act as a factor that can alter the economics of keeping older office buildings in service.

Council member Klitzke summarized a parallel effort, the "Putting Assets to Work" engagement, led by Ben McAdams and Alexander Stieglitz and underwritten for Spokane by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. McAdams described an approach used in other cities: map publicly owned parcels, identify commercially viable sites, and structure public‑private deals (often long‑term land leases and mixed uses) so public assets unlock services or revenue the city otherwise cannot easily fund.

McAdams shared examples from prior projects used to illustrate possible models: in one Salt Lake County example the public entity leased a strategically located parcel and eventually realized long‑term lease revenue; in another, a county contributed a $5 million outlay and the land while a private housing developer financed the remainder to produce a new senior center and about 75 housing units, with an estimated all‑in project cost of roughly $12–$13 million. "What we hope is that you will look at your real estate for the purpose of creating value for your community," McAdams told the council.

City staff and consultants emphasized that the Putting Assets to Work effort is an analytical and advisory engagement: the work is currently mapping city parcels (using an existing platform called Ptolemy), identifying candidate sites, and modeling options to present recommendations. The McAdams team proposed a municipal property advisor role to help the city structure deals and blend private, philanthropic and public funding sources for projects the city chooses to pursue.

Discussion among council members and staff focused on sequencing and scope: some members urged consolidation planning before major design work, while city staff proposed using some of Entegris’ remaining hours to identify affordable, immediate lobby improvements. Staff also indicated any project with significant dollar amounts would need to be budgeted through the city’s upcoming budget modification period at year‑end.

No formal council votes on new contracts or capital projects were recorded during the discussion. Next steps described at the meeting include group and one‑on‑one council briefings with the Entegris team, ongoing coordination with JLL for market leads and transaction tracking, and further asset prioritization from the Putting Assets to Work consultants.

Community members and councilors who wish to flag potential real estate leads were invited to send them to staff managing the JLL contract so they can be assessed.