Send all business inquires & press releases to matt.behringer@inlandnwbusiness.com

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Boeing rejects Spokane's bid

INBW has recived some news that Boeing has chosen Renton for their new Boeing 737 MAX Jet production line,passing over Spokane and it's sites near Spokane International Airport on the West Plains.The good news of this is that this new Boeing product will remain a Washington made product and that some of the suppilers for this new jet may locate in the Spokane area.This is a setback but it will not deter the Spokane officals working on this so called "Project Pegasus" as I have heard their is another aerospace company that the officals involved are still wooing.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Spokane to land Boeing?

It's been known for a while now that Boeing has been looking for a new spot for it's new Boeing 737 Max production line and it was recently announced that Boeing was interested in Eastern Washington as at site and now i've learned Spokane has been chosen as the number 2 spot of the list of potential sites,If Spokane we're to be chosen it would be some of the biggest moves job wise for Spokane in a while.The Boeing site would be in the West Plains most likely which has abundant land and resources for a large business including being the site of Spokane International Airport  and Fairchild Air Force Base .Spokane County has moved up it's height limits on the west plains to woo companies like Spokane and worked not long ago for the new massive Caterpillar Dist. Center which is now under construction we will be watching and hoping on this one as it would help the region out.The number 1 choice by the way is Everett which is more local for Boeing but may not be able to offer the room for expansion that Spokane does.

Avista subsidiary to buy company in Atlanta,Ga.

Spokane based Avista Corp's subsidiary, Ecova Inc. which was formerly known as Advantage IQ has announced they intend to purchase Prenova Inc. of Atlanta,Ga which is an energy management company and the deal is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Update Nov. 19th 2011

Eau De Vie is a new wine shop in Liberty Lake by Hay J's Bistro and Conoco at where I-90 meets Harvard Rd.

Freedom by Toni is a bail bonds place that opened not long ago in the Courthouse Plaza on Government Way in Coeur d Alene,near the Kootenai County Courthouse.

I'm not sure it's new but I noticed Palace Property Management in the Harbor Plaza in Coeur d Alene which is along Northwest Blvd and Hubbard Ave.

GVD Commercial is planning a small strip mall at 426 E. Hastings Ave. which is in North Spokane's Wandermere area.

The Spokane Humane Society is building a new Spay and Neuter Clinic at their exsisting shelter at 6607 N. Havana Ave.

Associated Painters which is company that hasn't even been in Spokane very long and paints aircraft at it's site in the Business Park at Spokane International Airport is now planning to build a 2nd hanger so that they can get thru a backlog of work.

The Bloomsday Race's offices are consolidating into a new building at 1414 N. Belt in Spokane's West Central Neighborhood and will include offices and warehouse space.

United States Customs and Border Protection is building a brand new 3 building complex near Bonners Ferry  and also some other near border sites in Washington.

The Pink Spot is new espresso drive thru is opening on or near Nov. 30th in Coeur d Alene along Goverment Way north of Appleway.

Historian Robert Singletary has come out of retirement to open Heritage Unlimited at 213 W. Appleway #5 in Coeur d Alene offering classes in history and music as well bus and walking tours of local historical sites.A division of the business is The Heritage Mercantile which is next door in with the framing shop in suite 4 which is a small antique and art store.

River City Hospice in Post Falls is experiencing rapid growth and has announced they plan to build at "Hospice House" at a site to be determined in Post Falls,Hospice of North Idaho also opening a home last summer on Prairie Ave in Hayden.

Studio 33 Photography has opened in Coeur d Alene at 611 E. Sherman Ave.

Knead n' Dough Bakery is now open in Athol and is a full service bakery at 5787 W. Hwy 54.

A new Weight Watchers has gone into Evergreen Crossings which is the strip mall with Hobby Lobby,Fred's Appliance,etc... at Indiana and Evergreen in Spokane Valley

The Invisible Fence office in unit 114 of Harbor Plaza on Northwest Blvd. in Coeur d Alene has now added all kinds of dog supplies and re-named their store Coeur d Alene Dog Company,And they do still sell Invisible Fence products.

Also now open in Coeur d Alene's Harbor Plaza is Vivid Tattoo and Art which is in suite 106.

A fitness facility called Farmgirl Fit is opening soon located in Spokane at 128 S Sherman.

Downtown Coeur d Alene is getting a new restaurant soon with Scrud's Gourmet Grub at 206 N 4th Ave. their menu in the window shows they will have a challenge and a waiver required 5 pound stuffed burger.

The Seasonal store Stocking Tree which has many gift items and local items is opening at Silver Lake Mall in Coeur d Alene

Sweet Frostings is a new full service bake shop and cupcake shop in Downtown Spokane at 15 S. Washington .

The Bajio Mexican Grill in Northtown Square along N. Division by Northtown Mall and Wellesley Ave. became on ,Sept 2nd, a Costa Vida Cafe which is also a Mexican grill restaurant.The address is 4805 N Division #102.

Super 1 Foods is breaking ground on a new store in Bonners Ferry which will be near the corner of Main and Hwy 95,The store will employ 85.

Opening soon is a business with an interesting name.The University of Spokamsterdam is opening near Downtown Spokane and will provide education on Medical Marijuana and the growing of the it.









  

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

One more piece of the US 395 puzzle opens tomorrow

The North Spokane Corridor freeway project is making a big leap forward tomorrow,Wed. Nov 16th 2011 with the opening of the new exit/entry to the roadway from Highway 2,this will allow traffic on route 2 to flow right directly onto the highway and eliminate some of the congestion in places like the Y.Here is the press release from The Washington Dept. of Transportation.

 Date:  Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Contact: Al Gilson, Communications Manager
WSDOT Eastern Region
2714 N. Mayfair
Spokane, WA  99207
509-324-6015
gilsona@wsdot.wa.gov
A new US 2 interchange opens Wednesday, Nov. 16, on the North Spokane Corridor (NSC) just north of Spokane. “Now drivers can make a smoother, safer transition between these two major highways,” said Regional Administrator Keith Metcalf of the Washington State Department of Transportation. “We’re another step closer to getting the northern five miles of the NSC fully built.”

Contractor crews working for the WSDOT built five new vehicle bridges and one pedestrian-bicycle bridge along the NSC, and built a new 30-foot arch culvert at Deadman Creek beneath US 2. The new culvert creates a better stream for fish and a safer crossing for resident deer, elk and moose.

A brief ceremony is planned for 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, to celebrate the major milestone. The event will be held on the new ramp that connects southbound US 2 to the southbound NSC. (The event can be accessed from the southbound US 2 ramp.)

Funding for this $43 million construction project came from the transportation funding program passed by the 2003 Legislature.

For more information on the project, go to the project website.

2011 is a good year for Downtown Spokane

Downtown Spokane is alive and well,it's one of my favorite places in the Inland Northwest and while it's seen the economy hit it just like every other spot in America, this year has proven to be a good one all in all.Several business changes have occured but the most noticeable changes have been and will be Kendall Yards,The Unversity District projects(Martin Luther King Blvd. and Medical School) but the other 2 are what I'm focusing on in this post and those are Mobius Science Center and The Spokane Public Market.The Public market is designed to be a smaller local version of Seattle's famous Pike Place Market.It has been open since this past summer but isn't up to the full glory i'm sure the market will one day see,it's worth the visit and it's a great place to get fresh local foods and even some products,They are located at 24 W 2nd Ave in Downtown Spokane and are very easy to find off of ether main streets,Division and Browne.Here is according to http://spokanepublicmarket.org/ what you will find there...   http://spokanepublicmarket.org/find-it-at-the-market/   

The other is Mobius Science Center,Spokane has come to know and love it's Mobius Kids Museum which takes up the basement of River Park Square Mall on Main downtown since it opened to the public in Sept. of 2005.Now in the 809 W. Main Building will be Mobius Science center.I saw on KHQ that the project is progressing quite nicely and is still on track to be open in the fall on 2012,In my opinion I would expect this museum to be more popular given it's in a street level space on a street which has pretty heavy foot traffic both by locals and out of town visitors.I'm sure we will find out more in the coming months,I'm told they will begin an outreach program very soon to promote that this science center is finally coming.The exact floorplan is not online yet but here is a shot of what the science center will look like once opened in 2012



All that and that and the projects in the University District  and Kendall Yards which of course i'll follow up on that too just goes to show you that sure you can get wraped up in all the doom and gloom of lay-offs and downsizings but that there is hope and still projects moving forward,That's the way out of a recession is to look for the positive.

Monday, November 14, 2011

New ways to contact us...

I now have a seprate e-mail just for tips and comments on items for and on this blog.The new e-mail is inlandbusiness@yahoo.com And you can always contact me on Facebook by liking the blog's facebook page at...
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Inland-Northwest-Business-Watch/163064547117641

I plan to also promote on Linkedin but need to work on that a little more.I also am hoping to use the Facebook page as a tool for local business to promote themselves and network amongst themselvles and the Inland Northwest community.

Once again, If you have an idea for the blog or a tip e-mail me at anytime inlandbusiness@yahoo.com

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Update Nov 9th 2011

Intrinium Networks a company the explores companys IT security issues and has enjoyed much growth latly has opened it's new office at 505 N Argonne Rd Building B Suite 202.

Eastern State Hospital,which is a mental health hospital located near Medical Lake will undergo so renovateing some of which i'm sure is needed.The Westlake Building will be renovated and the Security will be fixed up in the Eastlake Building.

Edward Jewelry and Loan opened last week in Post Falls,where the Cricket Wireless store once was at 205 E. Seltice Way.It is also of note that I read in the Coeur d' Alene Press they have already been broken into,not a surprise as I also recall the Hayden Walgreens was robbed 2 days after it opened last year,Frustrating when that happens to a new business in this economy.

While I think they have been active for at least a couple of months Liberty Lake based OurTownZip has been really beefing up promoting their new local website and have posted a sign by their building which I didn't notice till recently they are in near I-90 in Liberty Lake.

Now and Then Thrift Store is opening soon in Coeur d' Alene they are by Divers West at 1508 Best Ave.

Properties By The Lake's sales offices right on Sherman near the Coeur d' Alene Resort in Coeur d Alene have closed.

Centry 21's real estate office in Liberty Lake has also closed but they have only consolidated in with the Downtown Spokane office.

The store called Trade Secret has closed at Spokane Valley Mall,Not quite sure when this happened though.

Gold Buyers of America has also set up a new location in the Spokane Valley Mall.

And while i'm on the Valley Mall trend i'll also note that Yankee Candle has opened a bright and big new store in the Spokane Valley Mall.

Spokane Clock is moving into their new location at 3140 N. Division in Spokane.

Dempsey's Brass Rail,which was a popular gay bar in Downtown Spokane has closed.

T&R Party Rentals at 2001 N Division in Spokane is closing also.

Knife River,a road construction company is now in their newly built offices at 8844 W Wyoming Ave in Rathdrum

Pampered Pups Dog Grooming is now open in Mead at 11915 N Market St.

Spokane Vintage Warehouse has opened at 2226 E. Riverside in Spokane.CORRECTION ttTHIS MAY HAVE BEEN MISREPORTED TO ME

I think it opened a couple months back too but I totally forgot about the Riverside Bistro which is a new resturant located inside the Oxford Suites on Indiana Ave in Spokane Valley and directly across from the Spokane Valley Mall.

Bias Software has purchased the building at 327 E. Pacific Ave in Spokane with the intent of remodeling it and moving their offices into it.

Geno's Italin Resturant which is a popular resturant on Hamilton in Spokane near Gonzaga has been converted into a bar and is now just called Geno's.

Curtis Orthodontics is nearly completion of their new office in Coeur d Alene on Canfield Ave in the same strip mall as Batteries Plus and Valentino's Pizza(near Target)

Floform Countertops has a new design center that has just opened at 5320 E Sprague in Spokane.

Set backs for Coeur d' Alene's McEwen Park project may come.

Last nights election sure did prove to be an interesting one for the city of Coeur d' Alene an the future of one of the city largest planned projects,McEwen Park.The massive rebuild of the park has been a hot button issue for months now with the side against the park plan being vocal and involved in many city government meetings,One issue they have had with the project was the plan calls for closing of the 3rd St boat launch which is used quite heavly for times like the 4th of july and basicly all summer with the tourist boat traffic on the lake,this along with the parking area being changed and even some who want to keep the American Legion Baseball Fields in place as opposed to elimateing them as well for this all new McEwen Park.
So this project has gotten a lot of people rather heated and that showed in the city of Coeur d Alene city council races with these results,Each of the winners listed below are all ones who campaigned strongly against McEwen,it is important to note however these newly elected officals only plan to send the park plan on to a public vote which there are still members of the voting public(such as myself,although I respect all viewpoints on this issue) that may still vote to move forward with the project,so all in all it just adds to the drama and suspence of this massive McEwen Park re-design and build project.

So here are the results for the City of Coeur d' Alene city council election 2011...
Coeur dAlene Council 1
Seat 1
Ron Edinger 3,23674%
Adam Graves 1,14626%
Coeur dAlene Council 3
Seat 3
Dan Gookin 2,40954%
George Sayler 1,70338%
Mitch Mitchell 1704%
Annastasia Somontes 1163%
Derec Aujay 321%
Coeur dAlene Council 5
Seat 5
Steve Adams 2,43956%
John W Bruning 1,47834%
Amber Copeland 45910%

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Kootenai County Election Results as of about 11pm Nov 8th 2011

For the results live for Kootenai County and the cities in Kootenai County I recommend going here...

http://www.kcgov.us/elections/results/#

Spokane City/County and State of Washington election results Nov 8th 2011

.And now here are results for Spokane and The State of Washington....
http://www.kxly.com/politics/21511416/detail.html

I was posting directly to this site but due to the size of it after copy and paste it just doesn't work with the format.Anyways,some interesting results are coming in although there is still more counting yet to go.

Top rated in Spokane

Other then this Blog another website i've been obcessed with is Yelp.com so I got the idea to share the top rated business in the area so that maybe while exploring new business you can visit or re-visit some favorites.I know I personally find it it interesting because some of these i've never even been to...

On yelp.com....
1.Boo Radley's
2.Riverfront Park's Suction Goat(sad,but true)
3.Auntie's Bookstore
4.The Davenport Hotel
5.Manito Park
6.World's Largest Radio Flyer Wagon(Is it just me or does this city need better tourist attractions:) )
7.Milford's Fish House
8.Baby Bar
9.Wild Sage Bistro
10.Atticus Coffee and Gifts
11.Churchill's Steakhouse
12.Flying Goat
13.Huckleberry's Natural Market
14.Riverfront Park
15.Chicken-and-more
16.Picabu Neighboorhood Bistro
17.Viking Tavern
18.Santorini's Greek
19.Taste Cafe
20.Gordy's Sichuan Cafe

I'll post other from other areas from time to time.

Kc's Breakfast Club-Post Falls

I'm not with Kc's nor am I realted to the owners but I figured I'd stop and take a brief moment to help out of the Inland Northwest's truely good resturants that's not a chain and clean with a good product.I eat at Kc's whenever I can and have noticed their business seems to have slowed some so please if your in Post Falls stop by Kc's at 740 Cecil Rd(The Plaza At Post Falls,right across Cecil from the Post Falls Wal Mart) and give them a try.

Before the snow flies...

In my commutes and adventures around the Inland Northwest in the last couple of weeks i've noticed many of the bigger projects are rushing to finsh before the snow and/or the end of the year,I-90's rebuild in the Valley which when done will mean the road will have a new concrete surface and 6 lanes as opposed to the prior 4,That project should be done this month and last time I drove it signage was going up and some minor concrete work as well just a bit more of the all new sound wall from Flora Rd. to Barker Rd yet to go.This will increase traffic flow and get rid of that annoying slow down thru this area come 5 and 6 every weekday.In the road world big news also out of Sandpoint as the Sand Creek Byway which will take US 95 around Sandpoint insted of directly thru downtown is way ahead of schedule and if weather cooperates it may be finshed by the end of the year,which is a whole 10 months early! Other smaller projects rushing are in the apartment front,it looks like only finshing touches at Coeur d' Alene's Riverstone West Apartments on John Loop and with a little more to go the 55 and over apartments off of Idahline near Seltice in Post Falls.And that's just what I can think off of the top of my head,Fall is always an exciting time for constuction so i'll keep watching.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Reminder

Tonight is daylight savings time,it's time to set your clocks back or "fall back" .

Dog House Cafe

Just came across this story from the blogs on KXLY about a new restaurant in Downtown Spokane and figured i'd share it since it should be a nice addition to the Downtown area.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One block of West Sprague has its fair share of food trucks and across the street, music and day-time food venues, but what happens when the night comes to an end?
Dog House Cafe has a solution. Their brand new cafe.
“After they’re done partying and having a good time, they can sober up here,” manager, Julian Baird explained. He added: “We’re closer than Shari’s.”
The Cafe opened two weeks ago tucked away next to the former Lamp Post Tavern. It’s a minimal set up, but they accomplish the sustenance needed by late night crowds. They provide everything from make your own hot dogs to sandwiches and salads. They have twenty choices for condiments, seven for cheeses and meats, and two for breads.
They saw the most business on Saturday night, during the Halloween weekend. The crowds, Baird said, were mostly coming in from nearby Mootsy’s and Irv’s across the street.
The late night crowds have been interesting, Baird says. He wants to start his own blog just to talk about the happenings.
“It’s a big variety of people that come in here. In fact we’ve had Occupy Spokane sitting in front of our store about two weeks ago,” Baird shared. He continued, “They were trying to occupy the Cafe’s doorstep, but we think they were actually two homeless people saying they were with Occupy Spokane. They were asking people for money.”
During the lunch hours, it’s been quiet. Lunch-goers slow down on their way to Chicken n’ Mo wondering what’s inside.
They are not online yet, but they plan to start up a website and Facebook soon. Their grand opening is the weekend of November 11th and 12th with live music.
Location and Hours: Dog House Cafe is located at 412 W. Sprague. They're open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. 
Sports Fans: I've been told they have all the sport packages. I've been told you know what this means. 

Changes at the Coeur d' Alene Resort

The Hagadone owned Coeur d' Alene Resort is changing slightly and maybe it's just my opinion but the hotel could use some updates and beyond what they are doing now but at least this is a start.The hotel is renovating the entry/valet area with a new roof and walls and although it's been done since I believe July they are promoting their new Event Center down the road at the Resort owned Golf Course and are now creating an event spot for weddings,etc. in the spot where the pool overlooking the lake once was.And the plaza shops on Sherman is changing fast too but not quite as good news Cisco's II antiques is moving out and consultating in with their original store on 4th just about 2 blocks away,Concept Kids which was a baby store has closed as did the store called SkinDeep which was an upscale cosmetics store.The SkinDeep spot has already been leased and is being converted to Gentlemen's Corner,a men's shop and the other 2 spots being vacated will i'm sure be refilled soon.It may sound bad to have 3 stores at once move out but as I noted in a previous post this seems to be unusally common for Downtown Coeur d' Alene with some other changes elsewhere downtown since we are heading into the off season and by May i'm sure everything will be full once again.