Nokomis building torn down

Published 2:32 pm Friday, January 8, 2016

The old Nokomis building in downtown Redmond was torn down Friday afternoon.

The building, which was constructed in 1933, was previously the original location for the Redmond Library and once housed the former Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce and McDonald’s Book Exchange.

Since it became known that the building was being slated for demolition to make way for a five-story building that will house residents as well as a possible coffee lounge, meeting room and art walk, the Nokomis Club of Redmond and other members of the community had been working to preserve the building.

At the Dec. 1, 2015 City Council meeting, the council voted to uphold the hearing examiner’s decision approving the proposal of the project and denying the Nokomis Club’s appeals against demolition of the building.

As previously reported, Alexa Munoz, president of the Nokomis Club, said in addition to wanting to save the building, they were concerned that a five-story building would lose the human scale in that part of downtown, which contains mostly one- to three-story buildings. She said a five-story building can have people feeling overwhelmed.

Munoz added in the report that the Nokomis building is also significant because it is one of the few buildings that was built by women.

In the summer of 2015, there were talks of possibly moving the Nokomis building to one of the parks in Redmond. As previously reported, Arthur Johnson Park and Martin Park were possible sites for the building’s potential relocation.

The property was sold to Natural & Built Environments (NBE), a Kirkland-based development company committed to sustainability. And according to earlier reports, Robert Pantley, the company’s owner and CEO, expressed the possibility of incorporating elements and materials from the Nokomis building into the proposed one.

The Reporter will update this story as more information becomes available.