Whitworth Physical Therapy PS, of Spokane, is negotiating a lease to open new headquarter offices in the basement of Schade Towers, at 528 E. Spokane Falls Blvd., and is working with Baker Construction & Development Corp., of Spokane, on a plan to remodel that space at an estimated cost of $1 million.


Meanwhile, Spokane Teachers Credit Union (STCU) is leasing space on the first floor of the historic former Schade brewery building, and expects to open its ninth branch there in October.


Its a hot area for development right now, says Spokane contractor Barry Baker, owner of Baker Construction and leader of a group of local investors who, along with Black Proinvest LLC, bought Schade Towers earlier this year. Theres a huge amount of synergy going on between the businesses opening in the U District and the educational facilities there.


Rob Parker, who owns Whitworth Physical Therapy, says he hopes to move into the roughly 14,000-square-foot Schade Towers space by next January. The companys current main office is located at 10103 N. Division.


Weve been looking to open a state-of-the-art sports medicine place, and wanted a location somewhere near downtown, Parker says. The building is a real diamond in the rough for us.


Assuming the lease negotiations are successful, renovations are expected to include constructing a mezzanine level for a corporate office, which is possible because of the 25-foot-high ceilings in the basement, Parker says. 3E Design Group PS, of Spokane, is designing the project, he says.


The new Whitworth Physical Therapy office will feature a walking track, pool, batting cages, rock climbing wall, and a fitness center, he says.


Parker says three separate businesses that are symbiotically related plan to operate in the Schade Towers space. Those businesses include Whitworth Physical Therapy, which currently has offices in North Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Airway Heights; an extension clinic of North Idaho Medical Care Center PLLC, of Post Falls, which operates five offices throughout North Idaho; and Champion Sports Medicine, a sports training and endurance enhancement company. Parker says he sits on Champions board with Dr. P.Z. Pearce, who co-owns North Idaho Medical Care Center.


The Schade Towers location, just east of downtown Spokane across east Spokane Falls Boulevard from the Riverpoint Higher Education Park, provides multiple advantages to Whitworth Physical Therapy, he says. It uses The Warehouse sports complex, located on north Hamilton Street, to run sports camps. The new facility will provide a closer, more convenient location to those camps, he says.


The office also will be centrally located within the planned University District that the city of Spokane, Spokane-area businesspeople, and university representatives are promoting. Parker says the U District had a lot to do with his decision to move to that area, and he plans to work with the universities that have operations there to provide medical services.


Whitworth Physical Therapy currently employs 33 people. If it opens an office at Schade Towers, it will employ 15 people there, including four new employees, Parker says. He says he hopes to open several other offices in the Inland Northwest in the next two years.


Separately, STCU, which claims to be the Inland Northwests largest credit union with 70,000 members and $737 million in assets, is leasing 4,000 square feet of floor space at the southwest corner of Schade Towers main floor, says its spokesman, Brad Hunter. He says 1,000 square feet of that space will be used for a University District branch, and a business-services office will occupy the rest of the space.


Hunter says the new STCU branch will provide 24-hour automated teller machines for members of the credit union and nonmembers, and will offer lending services during regular business hours.


The office will employ up to 20 people, including a combination of new and current employees, he says. Baker Construction will make minor tenant improvements to the space before STCU moves there this fall. The cost of that project hasnt been determined, Hunter says.


Baker says hes looking for tenants to take the rest of the five-story, 70,000-square-foot building. His investment group bought the structure from AmericanWest Bank, of Spokane, which assumed ownership after the previous owner, Schade Towers LLC, filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in 2000. That company had converted the former brewery to office space in the late 1990s.