Spokane business owners hope new downtown stadium brings more people to the area

January 27, 2022 7:36 PM

Rania Kaur,

Posted: January 27, 2022 7:36 PM

Updated: January 27, 2022 7:37 PM

by Rania Kaur

SPOKANE, Wash — While the new downtown Spokane stadium won’t be constructed until next summer, surrounding businesses are already thinking about what it could mean for them.

Owner of Shala Living Yoga Ara Lyman watched the progress being made across the street every single day. She says she sees it as the potential for new development.

“I was part of the studio, 12 years ago, when it was first created and it has generally, the neighborhood has generally felt the same, ever since then,” Lyman said. “So yeah, this is going to be interesting to see what happens.”

More development means more eyes on their business. Right now, its location on Boone Avenue feels more like a drive-through area with fewer people walking around.

Realtor Bruce Van Coot believes that’s going to change once the stadium is built.

“With the entertainment, there’s going to be great opportunities for things like AirBnB’s unit, we’d love to see some multi-use stuff going down there, he said. “Just because you do have the walkability down in that area.”

He already has a space available to rent right on Stevens Street and Sharpe. He believes within the next five to 10 years, once there are more people in the area, restaurants and businesses will follow.

“It’s going to be a place where people will now say ‘okay this is a place where I can now put a restaurant, this is a place where I can put my small retail space, you know this is a perfect place for an office space,” Coot said.

The construction of the new stadium will be complete by late-summer 2023.

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