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

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Several new businesses coming to the Prairie Shopping Center in Hayden

Such is often the case in commercial real estate, once a development lands a major new tenant, more new businesses follow. And it's looking like that's the case behind a recently flurry of business activity at the Prairie Shopping Center, corner of US 95 & Prairie Ave. in Hayden.

That major new tenant will be a new Panera Bread,  the second location for the Missouri based chain in the Inland Northwest .It is already under construction on a pad site the formerly housed a Burger King until just recently. The Burger King was demolished and construction work began promptly on the Panera Bread. There is no set opening date for the new Hayden Panera Bread but it will likely be in either August or September and will feature both dine in and a drive through, similar to the one already open on E. Indiana in Spokane Valley.

And, here's what is all coming soon , likely in response to the new Panera Bread-

Beau Monde Exchange

Beau Monde Exchange is an high end second hand women's clothing retailer that is moving to the Prairie Shopping Center from the Ironwood Square Shopping Center in Coeur d' Alene. Their Hayden will be their only location and will be basically the same as the store in Coeur d' Alene.

Beau Monde Exchange plans to open for business at the Prairie Shopping Center on June 7th. They will be in space in-between Qdoba and the Walk In Clinic.  

1920's Soda Fountain

Local business owner Cheyenne Potter is starting a new soda fountain in the shopping center along with some of her sisters. This new business will launch soon in Suite 105 by Java Hayden and The Local Deli and will be a throw back to the old school soda fountain concept.

The menu will include old fashioned favorites like bull moose, dreamland sundaes and new " foodie " favorites like ghost pepper chocolates, egg creams, sundaes , milkshakes, ice cream cones and the list goes on. 1920's promises to be a unique dessert shop that should have a large following, they plan to make their own ice cream and all the soda's will be from the locally based Tractor Soda Co. which is owned by the owner's dad.

The soda fountain is a work in progress right now but should be open for business sometime around late June.

Junior's Barbeque

Junior's Barbeque will be a new fast casual style BBQ restaurant being started by another member of  the Potter family, Travis Potter, Jr. who at only 19 plans to launch this exciting new restaurant in suite 85 at the Prairie Shopping Center, this is the same space as Wildcat Pizza and a few other small restaurants.

Customers will be able to customize their order by choosing just about everything from a type of bread, to sides and even picking a meat, all with many choices. Tacos and salads will be available and guest will be able to choose from taking their food to go or staying in with one of 4 truck beds that will be in the restaurant.

Junior's Barbeque will also serve Tractor Soda Co. soda's and organic custard. No mention of an opening date for Junior's but we will be checking up soon.

Also...

While the majority of the news is very positive at the Prairie Shopping Center it must be noted that the Hancock Fabrics store, next to Sherwin Williams is following suit with the rest of that chain and will close up shop soon with going out of business sales already underway. No word on who may replace them.

More space still available at the Prairie Shopping Center!

If you're looking for a space to lease for your new or existing business, it may be worth looking into the Prairie Shopping Center. Several more spaces are still for lease in this development which features a prime location in a growing area. There are still single suites all the way up larger spaces, for more information about leasing here contact Kiemle & Hagood Real Estate, their website is-

http://www.khco.com

New office building planned for the corner of Aero Rd. & Westbow Rd.

Recently on Inland Northwest Business Watch I wrote a article about all of the construction projects in various phases at the I-90 Medical Lake exit on the West Plains. It's an area that sees a lot of construction and development, both from businesses and new homes. In that article you may recall a brief mention of a new office building, at the time we knew basically nothing, but now the details are coming across my desk and figured I'd share them with you.

The building has yet to be named but construction will start soon for occupancy sometime in 2017. The structure will be a modern two story office building designed by Bernardo Wills Architects PC and built by general contractor Mc Closkey Construction. It will rise on the currently vacant Northeast corner of the Aero Rd. / Westbow Rd. intersection , nearby the Petro Truck Stop and across the street from Elixir Espresso.  In total the building will have 16,000 square feet, but currently on 2,000 - 8,000 square feet are actually for lease. Here is a look at a purposed rendering of the new office building-


The reason why only limited space is still available for lease is because two tenants have already signed on to office space in the new building, interestingly enough both are dental offices, they are...

Kidsmile Dental

West Plains Dental

Un-leased office space is still available with the building being a listing of NAI Black. Space here is running $ 24 per square foot and is class A office space, ideal for medical office, both regular office uses are also welcomed.

For more information check NAI Black's website at - http://www.naiblack.com

Friday, May 27, 2016

Jensen Byrd District purposed for east side of Downtown Spokane

The Jensen Byrd Building is a currently vacant former warehouse that most anybody in Spokane either knows or at least has seen in passing. The building is currently owned by Washington State University, who's Spokane campus is only a short walk away from the building itself. It's been reported multiple times that WSU hopes to renovate the building, and this blog was one of the first in Spokane to share a first look at their plans back in March. But, since then those plans have obviously progressed greatly with marketing work is already underway for not only a renovated Jensen Byrd Building, but a full re-done neighborhood now being called the Jensen Byrd District!

The Jensen Byrd District will be a HUGE step forward for Downtown Spokane if built out to it's full potential. Currently the area is a historic area with little activity other then a few WSU programs and some small businesses. But, the Jensen Byrd District would likely bring in a lot of new activity to this almost forgotten corner of the Lilac City. For those who don't know the building and the purposed Jensen Byrd District is just east of Downtown Spokane, north of Sprague Ave, and South of Trent / Spokane Falls Blvd. .

Plans for the Jensen Byrd District include-

-Converting much of the current Jensen Byrd Building into office / commerce space, designed ideally for Tech Companies, Biotech, Life & Health Sciences , IT businesses and more. All of which could mean new higher paying professional jobs for Spokane. Plans are for the district as a whole to have over 150,000 square feet of new class A office space.

-New retail / restaurant space ,  three of the buildings in the Jensen Byrd District are being marketed for some retail / restaurant space, including 30,000 square feet of retail space on the lower levels of the Jensen Byrd Building alone. Also, the nearby Pacific Fruit & Produce Building would keep it's historic shell but be replaced by several thousand square feet of new restaurant space.

-A new parking garage to accommodate the newly boosted neighborhood .

-Attached to the aforementioned parking garage would be space for a new 45,000 athletic club and then some more new retail space.

-And, last but certainly not least plans call for adding a new 14,000 square foot roof top conference center to the top of the Jensen Byrd Building itself. The Conference Center would also have outdoor gardens, a full catering kitchen on site and a lounge.

Of note however is just how huge and costly this plan is, because of this don't expect everything to open up overnight, in fact it will be built out in phases ( 2 phases currently ) .The contractor will be Lydig Construction building off of design work done by architecture firm WAG. Washington State University does still own the building and it will be developed by JB,LLC which is a partnership that McKinstry Spokane is a part of.

Actual construction work could begin as soon as this fall, and construction would like continue on for several months as portions of the project would require a de-construction of the existing spaces as well as the actual build out. With this said, the wait would surely be worth it as this plan would bring new jobs, new businesses and new life to a large section of Downtown.

One factor that is important to note with the plan for the new Jensen Byrd District is it's lack of a residential component . Despite it being located right in the heart of a prime student housing area none of the buildings include condo's , apartments or anything for people to reside. While a residential component would surely have been welcomed to keep people in the Downtown area, several new residential project are already underway just blocks from the site.  These include the 940 North apartment high rise , a purposed new apartment building along the East Sprague corridor where a car dealer sits today and even a purposed high rise, which may or may not be stalled, to be built over top of the former Auto Repair shop at N. Division & Trent.

Because of copyrights I won't be posting photos or renderings of what the finished product buildings will look like in the Jensen Byrd District. Instead I invite all my readers to check these and more out on the newly created official Jensen Byrd District website at-

http://jensenbyrd.com

The Jensen Byrd website is an excellent resource for those hoping to establish their business in the new neighborhood . Leasing work is now underway via SVN Cornerstone Real Estate for all types of spaces in every building from the Jensen Byrd to a brand new four story building purposed to be built directly next door to the Jensen Byrd. In all the new district consists of four main buildings and three that are unrelated to the main project but still on the site ( WSU Vet , River Bank office building and the Ignite Northwest complex ) .

To get a better idea of the area this project is purposed in take a look at this Youtube video...


We would love to know what you thing of this new Jensen Byrd District, is the wrong type of development or will become an important cog in the Spokane community? What businesses would you like to see go in there?

Let us know by interacting with us on Facebook or Twitter- @inwbusiness or http://www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Brain Freeze Creamery opens on the South Hill, adds food truck in Spokane Valley

Big things are happening at one of Spokane's favorite ice cream businesses. Brain Freeze Creamery has already come along way in a short time, in fact their flagship store in Kendall Yards is only a couple of years or so old and going strong. And now, they are branching out...

Today marks the first day open for their new second location on the South Hill. This new Brain Freeze Creamery is compact and fully remodeled from it's previous owners. This new shop is interestingly enough a former Baskin Robbins location. It can be found at 1230 S. Grand Ave. , next door to Ginger Asian Bistro and only a few blocks south of the gorgeous St. John's Cathedral . Here is a image of the location from the Brian Freeze Facebook page-


The South Hill Brain Freeze Ice Cream will be very similar to the original location in Kendall Yards. It will highlight a selection of 24 flavors of locally hand made ice creams, in addition to a selection of espresso drinks using Anvil Coffee, which is also locally produced. For those wanting more of a meal Brain Freeze also offers a selection of delicious sandwiches which are made fresh .

But, it's not just the South Hill store that is new for Brain Freeze Ice Cream. The business recently introduced a new Brain Freeze Ice Cream food truck that will visit local events and have a set location during certain days of the week.

The new Brain Freeze Ice Cream Truck will set up shop outside of their production creamery location at 9514 E. Montgomery Ave Suite 23 in Spokane Valley . The new truck will be open for business there Thurs. - Sun. from 5 - 9 pm , unless they have another event scheduled at that time. The truck of course has a more limited menu then what customers will find in the South Hill / Kendall Yards stores.

For more information of Brain Freeze Ice Cream visit their web site at-

http://brainfreezecreamery.com

Or, find them on Facebook at-

http://www.facebook.com/brainfreezecreamery

Pinot's Palette relocating to bigger studio, but staying in Downtown Spokane

The paint n' sip art studio business concept has now been duplicated several times now in the Spokane / Coeur d' Alene area. But one business started it all here, and remains the favorite of most for their excellent professionally taught art classes , friendly staff and of course the wine & beer help too!

Pinot's Palette is a actually a chain, with a local franchisee who oversees both the Spokane & Coeur d' Alene studios. And now due to the local franchises growth, Pinot's Palette Spokane will be relocating to cool new, larger space. The building they currently reside in was recently sold to Catholic Charities for and expansion of their services, but the owner of Pinot's Palette tells me they we're already planning on expanding / moving once their current lease expires.


The new Pinot's Palette will open at 319 W. Sprague Ave. , a historic storefront right next door to the new Spokane Comedy Club. They hope to open the new studio sometime around the beginning of July. The new space promise's to be more spacious and will even include private party room for private events to be held on Friday & Saturday nights. The basis of Pinot's Palette will stay the same however with painting instruction and wine & beer ( many of which are locally produced ) perfect for most any occasion.

Pinot's Palette also will remain open at their location in Midtown Coeur d' Alene. That studio is located at 728 N. 4th Ave , in the same building as Kelly's Irish Pub.

For more information on Pinot's Palette, visit their website at-

http://www.pinotspalette.com/Spokane

Or, find them on Facebook at-

http://www.facebook.com/pinotspalettespokane

Rocket Bakery to share space with STCU at River Park Square

Construction continues to push quickly forward on the new building that will house Spokane's first Urban Outfitters store this fall. That building is attached to River Park Square and replaces an older building that housed a T-Mobile store and group of small local businesses. But, with all the hype surrounding Urban Outfitters it's easy to forget the clothing store chain won't be the only tenant of this modern looking building.

On the back side of the new Urban Outfitters building is another tenant space, which was previously announced to be used by Spokane Teachers Credit Union. The credit union, which is more usually known simply as STCU , is working on relocating a branch from the nearby Crescent Court Building into this new space later on this year.


But, now we are learning that STCU has worked out a unique arrangement for their new space. It has been announced that the popular local Rocket Bakery chain will share a portion of STCU's space, which faces Wall St. and currently closed former Downtown Macy's building.


The new Rocket Bakery will take a portion of the credit union's 2,900 square foot space. All of Rocket Bakery will be on the ground floor of the new building and will feature both indoor & outdoor seating areas and a full menu of coffee, espresso , baked good and lunch items just like the other Rocket Bakery locations that can be found all around the Spokane area.

STCU CEO Tom Johnson says the credit union and Rocket Bakery are good fit due to their cultural similarities. He also points out that STCU & Rocket Bakery are both perennial favorites in The Inlander's annual best of reader survey. This will be Rocket Bakery's third Downtown location with other stores open at 157 S. Howard and 1325 W. 1st Ave, their flagship location is in the heart of Millwood on Argonne Rd.

Neither STCU or Rocket Bakery have set opening dates for this new location just yet, however STCU continues to be open on the Skywalk level of the Crescent Court at 707 W. Main .

For more information on Rocket Bakery , visit their website at-

http://www.rocketspokane.com

And, for more information on STCU, visit their website at-

http://www.stcu.org

Monday, May 23, 2016

Urbanna Natural Salon Spa & Wine moving to new larger Downtown location

While Urbanna Natural Salon Spa & Wine won't be moving far, big changes will still be coming to the locally owned & operated business. Urbanna, which is currently located in the historic Pine Creek Dairy Creamery building at 168 S. Division, will move about a block to 104 S. Division into a space that is currently being remodeled for them and is equally as historic.



The new location will open for business in early June and will offer up 8,900 square feet of space, which is 3,500 square feet more then what they have currently. The addition of extra space will allow Urbanna to add on an esthetics division that will offer consultations from board certified cosmetic and general surgeon Geoffrey Stiller M.D. and Botox / anti-aging treatments from Sarah Hamilton R.N. . These new services will be in addition to all of the regular salon & spa services offered today by Urbanna Natural Salon Spa & Wine.

The business also has operated a small on-site lounge serving beer & wine for sometime now.  The lounge will also move to the new location and will now also include a event room for groups of up to 20. This new event space would be a great addition for use by birthday parties, spa parties and the like. A catering option from a nearby restaurant is also being explored by the business' owners and a Enomatic wine system will also be installed to preserve wine for longer, preventing spoilage.

Urbanna Natural Salon Spa & Wine has built a significant following of loyal customers and boasts an amazingly low turnover rate amongst it's employees ( 40 employees in all ). The new location will also allow the business to hire on 5 additional employees, creating new local jobs.

The services offered by Urbanna Natural Salon Spa & Wine include, but are not limited too:

-Massage
-Hair
-Nails
-Facials
-Waxology

Urbanna is open for business from Monday - Saturday 9am- 8pm and online booking is available . For more information visit their website at-

http://www.urbannaspa.com

Or, find them on Facebook at-

https://www.facebook.com/UrbannaNaturalSpaSalonandWine

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Iron Mountain opens new, larger document managment facility on the West Plains

Iron Mountain ,Inc. , a publicly traded , Boston based secure document services company has recently completed the move and major expansion of their facility here in the Spokane area.



This new Spokane service center will replace a smaller Iron Mountain facility that had been on W. Hallett Rd. nearby the I-90 Medical Lake exit.  The new facility is still on the West Plains, but will now feature 40,000 square feet of space and a total storage capacity of 416,000 cubic feet. The center is more efficient and slightly closer the Spokane and Spokane International Airport at 4330 S. Grove Rd.

Iron Mountain offers several secure document services including shredding , on site imaging and record storage. This new location joins a large network of 1,350 other Iron Mountain facilities in 45 different countries around the world.

The company mentions Spokane as being one of the fastest growing markets in the Northwest for being a prime reason for the local investment.

For more information on Iron Mountain, visit their website at-

http://www.ironmountain.com 

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

New barber shops opening around Spokane ( Classic Cuts & Brickyard Barbershop )

In case you haven't noticed the traditional barber shop is making a huge come back. Sure the industry is significantly more hipster friendly now but barbershops are popping all over. In recent months Bulwark Barber and The Barbershop have opened for business in Coeur d' Alene, and now two more are now open / opening soon in Spokane. Here are the details on those....

Classic Cuts

Two former barbers at Headhunters Barber Shop in Northtown Mall , and one of their wife's have branched off and started their own locally owned and operated barber shop called Classic Cuts at 2311 N. Monroe .

The barbershop is roughly 1,000 square feet with TV's on the wall's and friendly faces waiting for both walk in and customers with appointments. Classic Cuts is open Tues - Fri 10 -7 and Sat. 9 - 6 . Some appointments are also taken outside of this timeframe.

Here is a look at the inside of Classic Cuts from one of their own Facebook page posts-


Find Classic Cuts on Facebook at-

https://www.facebook.com/Classic-Cuts-476442435881288


Brickyard Barbershop

Brickyard Barbershop is not open for business just yet, but they do have a building, which they are completely remodeling for use by the new locally owned & operated business. They also have started a Kickstarter , which is still open and is now over it's original goal amount.

Brickyard Barbershop will actually also be located on N. Monroe ( exact address not given ) and construction work has already begun. Plans call for returning the building to it's historic nature and giving it enough space for up to 6 barbers to work together.  There is no set opening date as of yet, but their Kickstarter page indicates they are hoping to open Brickyard Barbershop sometime in June.

To get a better idea of what Brickyard Barbershop is aiming for with their new business I'll reference this quote also from their Kickstarter page-

 " The feel of a straight razor shave, the smell of bay rum aftershave and a classic cut crafted by an expert "

To contribute to help open Brickyard Barbershop find their Kickstarter page at-

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1791036982/build-the-brickyard-barbershop

Or, find them on Facebook at-

https://www.facebook.com/Brickyard-Barbershop-745524375547349





Possible Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen coming to Post Falls...

Nothing is known as of yet, but it is of note that the City of Post Falls does have a commercial site plan under review for a Popeye's Chicken Restaurant. That's all we know, we don't know where or when yet and we will be following up on this...

It does add up as Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen restaurants have been expanding aggressively lately and opening in our general region. TV news reports from Montana are of a new Popeye's opening on Reserve St in Missoula and elsewhere.

At this time Post Falls is the only location hinted at, but we may find more as time goes by. Keep watching and for more info on Popeye's visit their website at-

http://www.popeyes.com

Owners of the new Red Lion Inn on the Sunset Hill face criminal charges over illegal renovations

West Spokane's former Spokane House hotel is now back open with an all new look and branding. The hotel is now known as Red Lion Inn & Suites Spokane and is the third Red Lion branded hotel in the Spokane market area. But, that is old news since it officially opened a few months ago. Today's news surrounding the new hotel involves an event that occurred during the hotel's renovations.

The Washington State Attorney General is now actively charging the hotel owner's 2013 Investments with illegally disposing of asbestos that was in the hotel building prior to the renovations. The Washington State AG says 2013 Investments , who is made up of Dayabir Bath , his nephew Gee Grewal and a John Hickson , had the asbestos removed without obtaining proper permits with the City of Spokane. In fact one Spokane Clean Air Agency employee even reports seeing piles of debris that likely contained asbestos siting outside in 43 mph winds putting workers and hotel neighbors at risk.

Also of note in the case against 2013 Investments is a building permit that was filed with the City of Spokane for only replacing, painting and texturing drywall, although it was reported more extensive renovations we're already underway at the time of filing.

All three partners in 2013 Investments will face 3 charges of violating the Washington Clean Air Act and one count of reckless endangerment. 2013 Investment member Gee Grewal will also face one count of making false statements to a public servant. Each count carries a maximum of 364 days in jail and/or $5,000 in fines. The case is still ongoing and these are only charges, a 3 are innocent until proven guilty.

The new Red Lion Inn & Suites remains open for business , this hotel takes the place of a former hotel known as the Spokane House Hotel which has operated in Spokane since the 1950's , prior to the new owners renovations that hotel had been temporarily closed. The property boasts 84 rooms, five stories and is within easy driving distance of both Downtown Spokane and Spokane International Airport at 4301 W. Sunset Hwy. More information on the Red Lion Inn & Suites Spokane can be found at - http://www.redlion.com/inn-suites-spokane   

Monday, May 16, 2016

Bellacrosta Bakery & Fine Foods begins it's agressive expansion, Liberty Lake location coming...

Back in December we shared on this site of the bakery division of Clover's ambitious plans to branch off of the up and coming Logan neighborhood restaurant and become a much larger baking operation with lots more wholesale accounts and even a small chain of storefronts. Now flash forward to today and it looks like those hopes and dreams are starting to come to fruition...

The bakery is still owned and operated by the same couples behind Clover, but the name and size of operation have changed drastically. The bakery, which originally was in a 800 square foot outbuilding on Clover's property has been re-named Bellacrosta Bakery & Fine Foods and just recently completed their move to a former equipment rental store's building at 315 S. Dishman Rd. in Spokane Valley.


The new Spokane Valley location is a 3,000 square foot operation that sadly is only used for production and will not be open to the public. It's designed to be used to service the future storefronts and their wholesale accounts, one of which remains the Clover restaurant. Also, the new business hopes to begin online sales in the near future.

But the public won't have to wait long to try Bellacrosta's large line up of breads, pastries , cupcakes , cakes and more. This as the first of several planned Bellacrosta storefronts is already in the works and will open for business sometime this Summer. This first store will be in Liberty Lake at 1235 N. Liberty Lake Rd. Suite 109 ( same plaza as Yoke's ) . It will sell all of Bellacrosta's breads and baked goods, but also salads, soups and sandwiches in a quick service format.

We hope to learn more on the Liberty Lake Bellacrosta Bakery location as that opening gets closer. The business owners also plan to open one more retail location before the end of 2016 and more shortly thereafter . Possible future locations of Bellacrosta Bakery & Fine Foods include Kendall Yards, Downtown Spokane, South Hill and North Spokane.

For more information on Bellacrosta Bakery & Fine Foods visit their website at-

http://www.bellacrosta.com

Or, find them on Facebook at-

https://www.facebook.com/Bellacrosta.Bakery

Tenants coming to the new Deer Park Business & Industrial Center

One of the newest business & industrial parks in the Inland Northwest is about to be home to a couple of new tenants, one of which will likely open for business this fall.  The center itself is a 140 acre campus, along 6th St. & Cedar Rd. just west of the Deer Park Municipal Airport, Eastern Washington's third largest regional airport. The site opened during the Summer of 2015 and offers abundant land and a prime location near US 395 and only 15 miles away north of Spokane.

The first new tenant to set up shop in the B&I center will be Knight Construction & Supply who is building a new building on land there ( 2401 E. Sixth ) . The company's new building will be a 30,000 square foot structure with manufacturing , warehouse and office space all under one roof. They plan to move their operations here from a smaller quarters further south on Cedar Rd.

Knight Construction deals primarily with government construction work including bridges and fish hatcheries. The company also is the parent company to two smaller businesses which will also set up shop in the new building. Those two businesses are Knight EZ Dock and Knight Wall Systems , both of which are manufacturing operations.  The Knight building should be complete by this fall.

Another tenant is also signed on to the Deer Park Business & Industrial Center. That tenant is Avista Utilities who is in the planning phase of a 30,000 square foot service center to serve Deer Park & Northern Spokane County. We'll likely have more on Avista's developments there as they advance.

Additionally more land remains available for most any business, lots are being sold by the land owner, The City of Deer Park.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Renovations coming to Downtown Spokane's Tradewinds Motor Inn property

A Western Washington based businessman is about to take a chance on one of Downtown Spokane's most notorious eye sore properties. A developer based out of Renton is in talks to purchase, re-do and re-open the former Tradewinds Motor Inn at 907 W. 3rd on the South side of the Downtown area. The hotel will be re-open with the branding of a national hotel chain, but will retain much of it's history and look, just without all the issues it has today.

The Tradewinds Motor Inn closed about 5 years ago after several years of operating as an apartment building for low income individuals. The neglect on the property was evident even before closed it's doors. Since closing down the Trade Winds has been hit by vandals, squatters and even did a cameo in the Spokane based zombie themed Z Nation TV show on the SyFy TV Network.

But if this sale goes through hope and life will likely return to the property, which is visible from I-90 and an easy drive from most of Downtown's shopping and entertainment destinations. A full renovation is planned for the entire property to allow it to re-open under the Howard Johnson hotel brand by Thanksgiving this year.

Much of the hotel will stay the same just with modern upgrades and clean up's. The only planned change is removing the outdoor pool and replacing it with a children's water feature. The hotel contains 60 guest rooms and a surface parking lot. This will be the second hotel construction project to hit Downtown Spokane, as a Spokane Valley based developer is in the construction phase of building a new Hampton Inn nearby Sacred Heart Hospital.

This would also be the only Howard Johnson branded hotel in the Spokane market, although they are not new to Spokane. Howard Johnson once operated in the property that is now the Ruby 2 Hotel Downtown , and the now Motel 6 at the base of the Division St. hill. There is no news as of yet about job creation from this project or renderings, we will continue to keep a close eye for more...

Liquor licence watch - May 13th, 2016

It's been awhile since I've done a liquor license watch post, but it's getting to be time. That's because there are now several liquor license applications for what appears to be new, yet to be announced businesses. We'll try to post more about each as we know more, but here is a overview of the most recent...

The Well - 21980 E. Country Vista Blvd. #100 Liberty Lake

Millwood Brewing Company - 9013 E. Fredrick Ave. Millwood

Lamp Light Wine & Tapas Bar - 828 W. Garland Ave. Spokane

Painting with a Twist - 11703 E. Sprague Ave Suite B3 Spokane Valley

The Last Call - 223 N. Division St Spokane ( grocery )

King of Ramen - 1601 N. Division St. Suite D Spokane


A couple we already know some about , others not so much. Also a couple we're left off because they we're / will be mentioned elsewhere on this site. Keep watching for more....

Alaska USA Federal Credit Union entering Spokane market with 3 new locations

Another new financial institution is about to enter the Spokane market, opening with not 1 but 3 new branches. That institution is Alaska USA Federal Credit Union , an Anchorage based credit union who already has many locations in the lower 48 including some in Arizona, California and Western Washington.

Currently all of the Spokane's branches of Alaska USA Federal Credit Union will be located inside of Safeway stores. Those locations will be-

Northwest Spokane - 2507 W. Wellesley Ave.

South Hill - 2509 E. 29th Ave

University District - 933 E. Mission Ave.

Alaska USA Federal Credit Union will be full service branches and will be open 7 days a week. The credit union operates with $6.34 billion in total assets and 500,000+ members. Membership is open to everyone and they will likely start signing up new members in the Spokane area soon as the branches will all open by the end of the month.

For more information on Alaska USA Federal Credit Union , visit their website at-

http://www.alaskausa.org

Several construction projects underway by I-90 Medical Lake exit.

With abundant commercial land, cheap electricity and proximity to Spokane International Airport makes it clear why the area around the Medical Lake exit is one of the Inland Northwest's hot spots for new business and industry. Even now a handful of new construction sites are being worked or are in the works, including...

New Starbucks on Aero Rd.

A new Starbucks Coffee location is under construction and should open within the next couple of weeks on the north end of the Petro Truck Stop property on Aero Rd. . This Starbucks will have both a drive through and an indoor seating area for up to 40.

New Speedco Truck Lube on Westbow Rd.

A growing chain of lube & tire repair shops geared towards semi trucks called Speedco will be wrapping up in the coming months on Westbow Rd. by the Super 8 Motel, about 1/4 mile south of the freeway exit. The new Speedco store will be their first in the Spokane area and will be about 11,000 square feet.

New medical office building with two new dental tenants

Not much is known yet, but a construction will start in a couple of months or so on a new 12,000 square foot medical office building at the corner of Aero Rd. and Westbow Rd. . Some space will be available for lease, but two dental tenants are already signed on to open for business there. The two tenants will be West Plains Dental and KidSmile Dental.

Planning work continues for STA's new West Plains transit center.

Although the original plan has been changed , Spokane Transit Authority is planning on using a large vacant lot on Westbow Rd. behind the Fairways Shopping Center for a new transit center connected directly into I-90 with a large park n ride parking area.

Under the current plan STA's West Plains Transit Center will feature 190 parking spaces, 2 passenger loading platforms , shelters and bicycle lockers.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Tenants announced for new Kendall Yards Medical Office Building

Early construction work has started with fences surrounding the site of Kendall Yards first medical office building. The planned building will be just feet away from the main Kendall Yards business district at the corner of Jefferson & Bridge Ave ( 546 N. Jefferson Way ). .

The Kendall Yards Medical Office Building, as it was tentatively named will be a three story office building with over 36,000 square feet of office space for a variety of medical providers. And, we're now hearing of the first tenants who will open for business in this new building. They include...

- Providence Medical Group - Who will lease space on the first floor for a new " primary care " clinic.

- Columbia Medical Associates - Columbia will lease space for more then a dozen primary care providers, sports medicine professionals and behavioral health providers.

Additionally a entire floor of medical office space remains available for lease, but may be filled before the building's opening date. The building is being developed and will be continue to be owned by Liberty Lake based Greenstone Commercial, who is also the developer for the rest of the trendy Kendall Yards development.

If all goes as planned, the Kendall Yards Medical Office Building will open to the public sometime in 2017. Here is a look at what the building will likely look like once completed-



This is actually just one of few new projects in the works currently at Kendall Yards. Including a new traffic light at the entrance on N. Monroe, a new mixed use building in-between The Inlander & Veraci Pizza's buildings, Elm St. Condo's and more.

Several new businesses are also in process of moving in, including Renew Float Spa , Koko & Lou's Jewelry and Boutique Bleu. More on these items in separate INBW posts, so keep watching...

Thursday, May 5, 2016

The Lilac Shop opens for business this afternoon

A new consignment shop is joining the line up of locally owned & operated businesses along N. Monroe. But, that alone is only minor business news, it's the style of this new business that makes it worth a definite mention....

The business, which is called The Lilac Shop , will be one of Spokane's first " pop up " style retail stores, this one opening for only one month. The Lilac Shop will open today at 5pm for their grand opening celebration and stay open till the end of the month of May. The Lilac Shop will be open on Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 12 pm - 6 pm , and the grand opening will be tonight from 5 pm - 7 pm .

The Lilac Shop specializes in gently used men's & women's clothing , shoes, housewares , home décor and even furniture. The business owners describe The Lilac Shop as " boutique-chic meets thrift store pricing " .  The business is also still accepting consignments...

The Lilac Shop is located at 2209 N. Monroe , in the building just north of W. Mansfield Ave. .

For more information on The Lilac Shop , find them on Facebook at-

https://www.facebook.com/thelilacshop

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

The Summit at Rockwood, high rise senior housing complex about to open on the South Hill


Visible for blocks around, The Summit tower at the South Hill campus of Rockwood Retirement Communities ( 2903 E. 25th Ave. ) will soon be complete full of life with dozens of apartments, common areas and even restaurants . It's 11 floors and will feature 64 apartments with an underground parking structure and built next door to it's lower in height counter part " The Ridge " an older 8 story senior housing complex with just shy of 100 apartments.

The Summit Tower recently opened it's ground floor ( which is mostly common areas ) and will begin opening the higher floors in ascending order as they are completed, which will occur over the next couple of months.


The new building, while not the tallest building in Spokane ( Downtown's Bank of America Tower holds that honor ) it still boasts great views sitting higher then the Downtown high rises on the South Hill . This also makes The Summit visible for a greater distance, in fact the tower can even be seen on the horizon along I-90 near the Broadway & Sprague Ave. exits.

Apartments in The Summit range from 900 square feet to 1,970 square feet with the top two floors considered penthouses with units there ranging from 1,050 square feet to 2,210 square feet. Residents of The Summit will also be able to take advantage of all the many amenities available on the Rockwood South Hill Campus.

While new senior housing complexes have been developed all over the region, The Summit is set apart as larger, more modern complex with something few of these project have, restaurant dining. The Summit Tower contains the following new restaurants-

Ember's Grill

Rocky's Café ( coffee shop )

Fireside Lounge ( bistro style dining )

Livingston's ( fine dining )

Residences of both housing towers and the rest of the South Hill Rockwood Retirement can use the restaurants under their dining plan.

Other features of  The Summit at Rockwood include an art studio, event and meeting spaces, library, business center , fitness center, theater, salon / spa and more. Leasing work continues by Rockwood, but many the units are already pre-leased .

For more information on The Summit Tower and all of Rockwood Retirement Communities local offerings, visit their website at-

http://www.rockwoodretirement.org

Or, find them on Facebook at-

http://www.facebook.com/rockwoodretirement

New Browne's Addition apartment building nears completion at 3rd & Coeur d' Alene


Once a controversial topic because it caused the demolition of two historic homes, the newest apartment complex in Browne's Addition is only a couple of months away from having people moving into the residences.

The building, which now stands at the corner of 3rd & Coeur d' Alene has three floors of rental units, 21 units in all. The building is being constructed for owner , Kettrick Properties, LLC of Seattle with design work being done by Fusion Architecture of Liberty Lake. The project also includes an underground parking structure.

Construction continues at the site today, but should be ready in June with some pre-leasing work going on now. Leasing of the apartments is being done by Goodale & Barbieri and will consist of studio , 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartments . The units rent for between $850 - $1750 per month and offer a quiet location in Browne's Addition while being only blocks west of Downtown Spokane.

To obtain more information on these new apartment units, contact-

Stephen Barbieri
Goodale & Barbieri Company
509-344-4919
sbarbieri@g-b.com

Monday, May 2, 2016

Sports Authority to close stores in Spokane, Nationwide.

Over the last weekend Englewood,CO. based sporting goods chain retailer , Sports Authority , announced the plan to liquidate and close down their remaining locations. The comes a negative news for the long struggling company who had originally planned to close only a portion of their store and re-structure the rest .

It is also negative news for the Spokane / Coeur d' Alene area the chain currently operates stores in Spokane, Spokane Valley & Coeur d' Alene. There is no set final day of operation or information about how many jobs will be lost in our area.

Sports Authority's local locations can be found at:



200 W. Hanley Ave. Coeur d' Alene ,ID 

Another point of bad news from the Sports Authority closures is in Coeur d' Alene area . The store there sat in anchor space for the not so busy Silver Lake Mall and the mall might have issue refilling the large anchor space. No news about what businesses might replace any of the Sports Authority store spaces here.

More information on Sports Authority , can be found on their website-
Http://www.sportsauthority.com 

Shine Blow Dry Bar opens on the South Hill

It's official , the national trend of " blow dry bars " has hit Spokane with the recent opening of Shine Blow Dry Bar at 2819 E. 27th Ave. nearby the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center.

Shine Blow Dry Bar does only hair styles and advertises " No cuts , no colors, just fabulous blowouts " . The business features a Freestyle System of "weightless" blow dryers suspended from the ceiling at each station. Shine also carries the Kevin Murphy line of hair care products to complete your new look.


Each session is 60 minutes and includes a shampoo and beverages are available, including adult beverages like wine, champagne and mimosa's .

The business is open six days a week and can be reached by phone for appointments at 509-315-9050.

They can also be found online at-

http://shineblowouts.com

https://www.facebook.com/Shine-Blow-Dry-Bar-992381654151971

What is going into the giant construction site on Indiana Pkwy , near Flora Rd ?!?

Here at Inland Northwest Business Watch HQ we've had a couple of questions pop into our e-mail boxes about the site grading now underway on a large vacant lot along E. Indiana Pkwy / Flora Rd in Spokane Valley, just north of the new Providence Health Park. Most are asking because the area, which is only about a 1/2 mile or so from Spokane Valley Mall, seems poised for some sort of retail / restaurant development, but unfortunately this is not the case with this project....

Turns out the site is being prepped for a very large new apartment complex to be called Bella Tess Apartments. We don't have all the details on the new Bella Tess Apartments, but here is what we know...

Bella Tess Apartments will be feature 13 three story apartment buildings, each with about 36 apartments each. This equals out to be just shy of 400 apartments ( 396 ) , and the project will also include smaller buildings for garages and a clubhouse building. The area seems to be prime for multi-family housing as another apartment complex, the River House Apartments also opened their large complex just recently across the road from the Bella Tess site.

Construction on Bella Tess will be done by the local firm Diamond Rock Construction, with no estimated completion date as of yet. We will keep an eye on this project for more on the actual apartments and the complex features in the coming months as construction progresses. Also of note is the construction site has caused some road construction in the area, this is for some road modifications and utilities' and from what we understand should only last for a couple of months.

People who live and work in this corner of Spokane Valley who we're disappointed to learn this site will not be a commercial project will likely still get their way soon. That's because a site in-between the Riverview Corporate Building and the Residence Inn by Marriott is planned for a 2 building strip mall , and the island in-between Indiana Pkwy and Mission Pkwy is up for sale and being marketed as a shopping center site. We will keep an eye on all of it and always welcome your questions... send them anytime too....

Matt - inlandbusiness@yahoo.com