Apparently the hotel has either changed hands many times, OR, the owner found it difficult to make a positive, final decision. Actually it has changed hands at least as many times as it has changed names. The most recent name change, to
The Otis, came about in 1956. More recently the hotel, built in 1911, was converted to low income apartments. It was bought by an investment group in 2007, closed, and became a refuge for the homeless, being vandalized and filled with garbage.
Bankruptcies and legal battles have halted progress on revitalization for years but, as of 2016, it appears that the building may soon be sold to new investors and renovated into either upscale apartments or a boutique hotel.
In 2014 the city finally took action and built a fence around the building, partly to prevent entry by transients and partly as a safety measure. The June 25, 2014 Spokane Spokesman-Review contained an article concerning the situation, which can be read in part below.
Vacant downtown Otis building fenced off
City officials have blocked off sidewalks around the old Otis Hotel in downtown Spokane, keeping out transients and others who have used the long-vacant building as a gathering spot or temporary home.
The city’s objective was blocking access to the sidewalk vaults alongside the building, said Jan Quintrall, the city’s director of business and development services.
Built in 1911, the Otis, at 110 S. Madison St., has been empty since 2007 when an investment group bought the building and moved out more than 30 lower-income residents.
Like with other older buildings in that area, the sidewalk has a number of covered openings with metal doors that drop down below the sidewalk.
Those doors have become rusted and don’t close properly, said Quintrall. In addition to letting people into the building, the vaults pose a safety concern, she said.
When opened, the doors provide access to the building’s basement. That was how materials and equipment were brought into the building, Quintrall said.
That problem came to the city’s attention through Bill Butler, the court-appointed receiver protecting the Otis Hotel during an ongoing foreclosure that began last year. The city blocked the sidewalks last week.
Read on at the Spokane Spokesman-Review