Spokane-based Inland Northwest Bank says it has bought a site in Spokane Valley for a freestanding bank branch that it plans to start building soon.

The property is at the northwest corner of Sprague Avenue and Progress Road, next to a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant and arcade, says Randall L. Fewel, INB's president and CEO.

INB's $1.2 million full-service bank branch will replace its lone remaining in-store branch, which is inside a Yoke's Fresh Market supermarket, at 15111 E. Sprague, across Sprague from the site for the planned new branch, Fewel says.

"We felt we needed a better presence in the Valley," he says.

The bank has applied for a building permit from the city of Spokane Valley for the project, Fewel says, adding that it plans to start construction on the new branch this summer and to open it next April.

The bank will select a general contractor for the project from among four contractors that are INB customers, he says. ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, designed the structure, which will have 4,000 square feet of floor space and three drive-through lanes.

Seven current INB employees will staff the new branch, Fewel says. Five of the employees will be moved from the in-store branch the bank will close, and a mortgage officer and a loan officer will be transferred from other branches, he says.

Last year, INB opened a freestanding branch in Airway Heights that replaced a branch it operated in a Yoke's store there. INB operates 11 branches. Seven are in the Spokane area, and four are in Kootenai County, Idaho. One of its branches, in Walla Walla, Wash., was scheduled to close May 29.