The Spokane Regional Plan Center has bought a 27,000-square-foot building near the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center for $1.5 million and plans to move there within about the next year, says Rita Hildenbrand, the center's director.

The nonprofit SRPC, which serves the construction industry, bought the two-story building at 209 N. Havana from Numerica Credit Union, which moved its headquarters from there to 14610 E. Sprague last year.

The SRPC sold the 12,000-square-foot, two-level building at 102 E. Boone that it had owned since 1965 to Gonzaga University for $1.45 million. Since then, it has leased 6,000 square feet of space in that building with an option to remain there until the fall of 2010.

Meantime, Gonzaga has consolidated its offices of human resources and environmental safety in the building on Boone, where it occupies all of the basement and one suite on the main level.

Hildenbrand says the SRPC plans to occupy the entire upper story of the building on Havana and lease out the ground level. It plans to make some improvements to the building, but those upgrades are still in the design stage, she says.

"We're deciding what we're going to need and figuring out our space requirements," Hildenbrand says, adding, "Initially, we'll have to move some walls."

The SRPC offers its 800-plus members access to construction plans on paper and online for contract-bidding purposes. The center had received 1,821 plans so far this year as of Aug. 12, up from 1,692 plans in the year-earlier period, Hildenbrand says. The center has six full-time employees and two part-time employees.