Otis Hotel: Back from the Dead

Jack Ferris by Jack Ferris

For the last decade, the Otis Hotel has been vacant. The public has not been into the 106 year old building since an investment firm bought the low-income housing structure back in 2007- displacing dozens in the process. Plans to renovate the Otis fell through a year later due to the economic crash.

In fact, the only peek the public has had inside the building over the last 10 years is through the horror series “Z Nation.” The hotel is prominently featured in the Season 1 finale.

“When I first walked through it, I walked with a guy who did the environmental asbestos,” explained Portland based investor Curtis Rystadt. “I said ‘what’s this,’ and he said ‘oh that’s just fake blood, don’t worry about that.'”

Rystadt laughed off the Z Nation set residue – but he had a right to be concerned. He bought the building in June, with plans to transform the historic hotel into 112 boutique rooms by next summer.

The man who made his National TV debut 3 years ago at the World Series of Poker, has long been involved in Real Estate – and saw the Otis as an opportunity to go all in on Spokane. Since buying the building for 1 point 4 million back in June, Rystadt has hit the ground running.

“Well, we’re doing a lot of the demo and principal work just to get it ready for construction,” described Rystadt.

With the optimistic timeline laid out by Rystadt and the Indigo Hotel group- it’s a good thing the estimated 6 million dollar renovation is already underway

“I’m looking forward to having the hotel open and being there for next summer. Hopefully I can get that done quickly and we can move fast and get the doors open for Hoopfest and all the other activities. I think the summers are about as good as they get in Spokane.”

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