Wheatland Bank, of Spokane, has chosen the Pine Water Plaza development as the location of its North Side branch and still is looking at potential sites for a new branch on the citys south side.


Wheatland Bank President and CEO Susan Pittman Horton says the bank hopes to start work on its North Side branch before long and expects to open it by next April. It hopes to open a south side location later in 2005. The bank currently has branches in downtown Spokane and in Spokane Valley.


Wheatlands planned North Side branch will be along the west side of U.S. 2, across the highway from its junction with Nevada Street. Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, plans to extend Nevada west into the Pine Water Plaza. Dick Vandervert, president of the construction company, also is managing partner of Pine Water Plaza LLC, which is developing retail center.


The one-acre Wheatland site is at what will be the northwest corner of U.S. 2 and Nevada. The bank plans to build a 4,200-square-foot branch there. Construction costs on such a project would be just over $1 million, Pittman Horton says.


Wheatland is seeking regulatory approval for the new branch, and would like to start construction on the project late this year, Pittman Horton says. On that timetable, the branch would open by next April.


The new branch likely will employ six people initially, she says.


Vandervert Construction will build the structure, and Bernardo Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, is designing it, Pittman Horton says.


Wheatland moved its administrative offices to Spokane from Davenport, Wash., in 2001. Outside of Spokane, it has branches in the following Eastern Washington communities: Davenport, Odessa, Wilbur, Ritzville, Quincy, and Moses Lake.


As of Aug. 31, the bank had $118 million in total loans and $107 million in total deposits.