James F. Cotter, a San Antonio, Tex.-based real estate investor, has added the Argonne West I & II office complex to his recently startedand fast-growingportfolio of Spokane-area properties.


Cotter bought Argonne West I & II, which is located in the 1100 block of North Argonne Road in the Spokane Valley, for $5.3 million from San Francisco area-based Metropolitan Investments Inc., says Jeff McGougan, a real estate agent with Tomlinson Black Commercial Inc., of Spokane. McGougan, who handled the transaction with Tom Hix, of Tomlinson Black Management Inc., also of Spokane, says Cotter bought the property as a long-term investment.


Including the transaction, which was completed Oct. 17, Cotter has been involved in buying Spokane-area office buildings worth about $14.8 million in the past three months.


In August, Cotter bought the Old City Hall building in downtown Spokane for $7 million, and last month, Cotter Health Centers Inc., a San Antonio-based company he owns, acquired the Garden Springs Professional Building west of Spokane for about $2.5 million.


The Argonne West I & II complex includes two two-story buildings connected by a skywalk. McGougan says those buildings have a total of 52,000 square feet of office space and are 98 percent occupied. The complexs tenants include Spokane offices for Qwest Communications International Inc., GMAC Mortgage Corp., Regency Health Care, and URS Corp., an engineering firm.


Hix and McGougan will remain the propertys manager and leasing agent, respectively.