rves people with developmental disabilities and their families, has agreed to buy the Inland Power & Light Co. building and property east of downtown and plans to consolidate its operations there, says Greg Falk, its executive director.

The organization has signed a purchase agreement to buy the 21,000-square-foot Inland Power building, at 320 E. Second, and the underlying land for $1.4 million, and expects to spend $600,000 to $900,000 remodeling it before moving in around next March, Falk says. The sale is expected to close on Sept. 15.

Inland Power, an electric cooperative that provides power to about 38,000 mostly rural customers, plans to move in about two months into a larger administration building it's developing on the West Plains, next to its warehouse and maintenance facility at 10110 W. Hallett Road.

To help cover its acquisition and remodeling costs, The Arc of Spokane plans to vacate and sell its ownership interests in two North Side buildings in which it has a combined roughly $2 million worth of equity, Falk says. It plans to sell its 5,000-square-foot main office building at 127 W. Boone, which it owns outright and has listed for sale at $549,000, he says. Earl Engle, of NAI Black, of Spokane, is the listing agent for the building.

It also plans to vacate the roughly 10,000 square feet of floor space it occupies in an 18,000-square-foot building at 116 W. Indiana and in which it has a two-thirds ownership interest, he says. That building was appraised a year ago for $1.45 million, Falk says. He says the nonprofit has agreed to buy the minority stake in that building from nonprofit Inland Empire Residential Resources, with that transaction expected to be completed next spring, and then hopefully sell the entire property to an investor.

Inland Empire Residential Resources, which develops low-income housing for people with disabilities, bought the building with The Arc of Spokane about 10 years ago and had occupied some space there, but moved last year.

Falk says the owner of The Nurturey Child Care Center LLC, which occupies about 6,000 square feet of floor space in the building on Indiana, and whose lease is up at the end of February, has said she's interested in leasing the entire building. If that occurs, and she signs a long-term lease agreement, the building would be more attractive to investors, he says.

The Arc of Spokane previously had been considering selling just the building on Boone and consolidating all of its operations in the building on Indiana, which would have required major improvements to that property, Falk says. It had launched the initial quiet phase of a capital campaign aimed at helping cover those substantial costs, Falk says.

Of the decision to buy the Inland Power property instead, Falk says, "It gives us a little more space, but its main advantage is the remodeling requirements are much lower," which will enable the organization to cut its capital-campaign requirements by half or more.

"We have $155,000 in cash and pledges—that's what we have committed so far," which now potentially could amount to almost 25 percent of the adjusted capital campaign goal, Falk says.

Integrus Architecture PS, of Spokane, probably will design the planned remodel of the Inland Power building, he says.

The Arc of Spokane is one of 750 chapters of The Arc nationwide. It employs about 180 people, Falk says.

Engle is representing The Arc of Spokane and Jeff McGougan, also of NAI Black, is representing Inland Power in The Arc of Spokane's purchase of the Inland Power property.