Computer expert says connectivity options make Spokane unique
Downtown Spokane has connections. Not the kind that come from attending Ivy League schools and belonging to the best clubs, but the kind that come when you hook up your computer to a high-speed network and zoom along the Internet at blazingly fast speeds.
"We have hardware one-upmanship on the whole world," says Steve Simmons, co-director of the software engineering laboratory at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research & Technology Institute. He bases his claim on the imminent availability of four high-speed Internet connectivity options in the downtown area: fiber optic cable; a so-called "dark fiber" network that operates at super-high speeds (made possible by technology from Spokane's own Packet Engines Inc.); new lines from US West that make high-speed Internet access much more affordable; and Internet access through TCI of Washington's digital cable service. The presence of those four options will "make Spokane unique in the whole world," Simmons says.
That's why Simmons is pushing a concept he calls the Terabyte Triangle, in which he envisions downtown Spokane becoming a kind of Soho district for techies and technology-based creative types. His idea has built up a lot of steam in Spokane recently, with several building owners vowing to retrofit their historic buildings to offer one or more of the available high-speed connectivity options.
Simmons says he's targeting historic buildings because their exposed-brick ambience typically would be attractive to web developers, software companies, multimedia producers and similar firms. In addition, the owners of those buildings are savvy about working with high-tech companies, which usually don't want to be tied down to long leases, he says.
"I'm talking about several thousand people in the long run," he says. "It is thinkable that a large software company would be attracted to downtown Spokane."
Forward motion
Up until a year or so ago, Simmons' Terabyte Triangle idea might have gone flat because of uncertainty over the fate of Spokane's city center. A proposed $100 million redevelopment of River Park Square, a major downtown shopping center, was stalled, and retailers were fleeing downtown for the suburbs at an alarming rate. Then Seattle-based Nordstrom committed to stay at River Park Square in a new, 137,000-square-foot store, some roadblock litigation was cleared and federal money came through to help with the cost of the project, as had been promised. The old River Park Square building was demolished and upscale national retailers such as Ann Taylor and Williams-Sonoma pledged to be part of the new shopping center. Other signs of life downtown include the possibility of a $70 million expansion of Spokane's convention center, as well as a long-awaited remodel of the venerable Davenport Hotel. The feeling of relief downtown has been palpable, says Ron Wells, a developer who has renovated a number of historic buildings near downtown Spokane in recent years and currently is developing a retail-and-office project called Steam Plant Square.
"Something like 34 buildings have been sold downtown in the last 60 to 90 days, and something like another 35 parcels of land," Wells says. "That has to be more, in a similar unit of time, than during any time in the last 15 years. It's extremely encouraging."
Hoping for synchronicity
Simmons says that he's made a number of presentations on the Terabyte Triangle concept, but marketing to potential tenants is just beginning. He says the beauty of his idea is that if it's successful, it will bring highly paid workers downtown just as a lot of new opportunities for them to spend their money open up.
The way he sees it, downtown Spokane will have an improved retail environment due to River Park Square, increased tourism because of Steam Plant Square and the convention center, and more businesses seeking downtown office locations because of the Terabyte Triangle -- all simultaneously. Says Simmons, "Hopefully all of this will catch fire at the same time."
Addy Hatch is a Spokane-area journalist |
