The Downtown Spokane Partnership (DSP) has initiated a Request for Quotes (RFQ) process to identify a qualified consultant to guide and execute a strategic planning process and evaluation of the downtown housing market and strategies to enhance the growth of its residential market. The DSP seeks a consultant with a deep understanding of urban housing development, housing policy and economics, and proven success in strategic planning.

View the full RFQ

Timeline

• RFQ Issued — August 5, 2024
• Deadline for Responses — August 16, 2024
• Contract Award/Notification — September 2024

Deliverables

The DSP seeks a consultant to produce a downtown housing evaluation and action plan that includes:

1. Current housing stock assessment: Evaluate the current housing inventory and complete assessment of downtown’s current housing  by type and quantity based on a variety of information sources including a recently updated housing inventory completed by the DSP with support of the City of Spokane.
2. Development targets: Assess housing gaps and determine missing quantity and ratio of housing – by type – downtown needs to develop to be a thriving urban district, with goals idenfitied for the next 5, 10 and 15 years. This may include focus groups, workshops and/or 1-on-1 meetings where the DSP will support coordination.
3. Action Plan:
   • Assess economic and policy factors that are currently hindering residential development in downtown.
   • Identify and inventory useful incentives and specialty economic zones (state and federal historic tax credits, tax increment finance districts, new market tax credits, opportunity zones, etc) to foster further residential development.
   • Recommend opportunities to expand and/or enhance existing policies, repeal prohibitive policies and/or adopt new policies that can support achieving development targets.
   • Provide recommendations from case studies of similar downtowns that have maximized residential growth and sustained residential populations.
4. Downtown amenities assessment: Assess the residential population size and other demographic metrics (e.g. area median income) the study district needs to attract urban residential amenities to accelerate growth of residential attractiveness.
5. Opportunity sites: Identify, assess and prioritize the most viable candidate sites for new residential/mixed use development and conversion of office to residential.

Submission Requirements

Respondents should provide a brief description of your organization and experience doing this kind of work. Responses should be structured into deliverable and consider the specific activities, time and budget Includes:

• Summary: Provide a brief description of recommended approach, activities, including outcomes.
• Scope of Work: Include high-level approach and outline activities.
• Timeline: Include milestones and key deliverables, including outreach meetings and final presentations.
• Budget: Identify total cost, including labor and indirect expenses.
• Additional Information: Any other information deemed important, but not specifically required elsewhere.
• Experience: Include at least one relevant example of prior experience with reference contact.

View the full RFQ

Contact

Submit all questions and proposals by 5:00PM on Friday, August 16, 2024 in PDF format via email to: Andrew Rolwes, Downtown Spokane Partnership at arolwes@downtownspokane.org.

Questions

All questions should be submitted via email no later than 5:00PM on August 12 to Andrew Rolwes at arolwes@downtownspokane.org and Kevin Campbell at kcampbell@downtownspokane.org.