AmericanWest Bank, the main operating subsidiary of Spokane-based AmericanWest Bancorp, says it will grow its operations in Eastern Washington by opening branches in Airway Heights and College Place, Wash.


AmericanWest has submitted applications to the Washington state Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to open those two new bank branches, says spokeswoman Kelly McPhee. The bank hopes to open them by late fall, McPhee says.


The planned branch in Airway Heights, to be called the West Plains Financial Center, is expected to be located in about 1,800 square feet of leased space in the Crosspointe Plaza Shopping Center, at 10510 W. U.S. 2, McPhee says. The bank plans to remodel that space before it opens the branch, which will employ roughly five people initially.


We have a growing number of customers in the West Plains area, McPhee says. We think our West Plains location is well-situated to serve the growing number of families and businesses in that thriving area.


The planned branch in College Place, which is just west of Walla Walla, would be the banks fifth location in that area, McPhee says. The new branch would occupy a roughly 2,300-square-foot leased space in the Meadowbrook Plaza Shopping Center there, and would employ about five people, she says.


Meanwhile, AmericanWest is building a branch in Hayden, Idaho, which is expected to be completed this fall, McPhee says. That branch and the two in Airway Heights and College Place are among six the bank is building.


Its building an office in Coeur dAlene that it expects to complete by December, and it expects to wrap up construction of a branch in Sandpoint by early next year, she says. The bank is building a branch in Yakima, which it plans to open by this fall. In addition, the bank is expanding its branch in Sunnyside, which also will be completed this fall.


AmericanWest currently has 43 branches and had $1.3 billion in assets in mid-March.