Kendall Yards #Progress: March 23, 2014

This mixed-use building at Kendall Yards will feature retail and restaurant space on the bottom floor and two stories of residential lofts on the upper floors. Photo taken March 23, 2014.

Spring has sprung at Kendall Yards. The new urbanist/mixed use development near downtown has taken on a decidedly more urban (and local) feel of late, as Greenstone focuses on three new buildings in the neighborhood's commercial district. With Yards Bruncheon now complete, construction is focused on Wandering Table next door, a building that will be the new permanent home for Veraci Pizza, and a new three-story mixed use building with streetfront retail and residential units above called the Highline Lofts. While some leases for the building are presumed to be signed, we only have confirmation that Brain Freeze Creamery will occupy the suite closest to Wandering Table on the western-most side of the building.

With all of these local restaurants joining Central Food, it's pretty clear that the neighborhood has become a venue of choice for homegrown local businesses much more in line with reality than the Marshall Chesrown/Black Rock designs we saw (and salivated over) in 2006. We're excited to see which tenants are lined up for the almost-complete Highline Lofts building, when a proposed four-story mixed-use building between Veraci Pizza and Spa Paradiso will break ground, and what will become of the rest of the neighborhood, especially with plans for additional surface parking in lieu of underground garages in the commercial district. Just try to keep that aspect to a minimum, okay, Greenstone?

Directly to the west, next door to the Highline Lofts, Wandering Table nears completion. Yards Bruncheon is already open next door. Both of these restaurants are owned by local chef Adam Hegsted.

The Veraci Pizza building will be located next door to the Kendall Yards Leasing Office and Community Center. Apparently featuring a roll-up door, the restaurant will only further enliven an already engaging pedestrian experience in the new neighborhood.

Outside the Inlander/Spa Paradiso Building, note the ultra-wide sidewalks that will run the length of the commercial district. This is pedestrian-friendliness at its finest.

On the door to the Inlander office, a reminder of what makes Kendall Yards (and Spokane!) so great. Closing without warning usually isn't cool, but when it's for a reason like Gonzaga basketball or a foot of fresh powder at the mountain, it builds community in the strangest of ways. Thanks, Inlander!

This is located on the Centennial Trail probably less than five hundred feet from the completed buildings in the Kendall Yards commercial district. Note the view of the Monroe Street Bridge from a new angle, and the almost-complete Huntington Park next to the Falls. (We'll have an update on that shortly, by the way.)

Directly across the street from the Kendall Yards Leasing Office and Central Food, the existing Court of Appeals Building breaks up an otherwise awesome pedestrian landscape. Perhaps this building could be remodeled in the future to face Summit Parkway?

Kendall Yards gets it. They've added public art to The Nest, answering the call for Spokane to add more public art. (Yes, The #spokanerising Project is taking credit even though this was completed before Idea #4. Sue us.)