The historic, 117-year-old Spokane Upriver Dam & Facility building is getting a new interior update.

“We’re doing just a little bit of an office upgrade,” says Dave Steele, a project coordinator and real estate manager with Spokane’s facilities department. “It’s just upgrades to the bones and infrastructure with a little bit of fit-and-finish for the public-facing portion.”

Located at the Spokane Upriver Dam,  at 2701 N. Waterworks in East Spokane, the building will receive two new offices and a new training room, Steele says.

Originally built in 1908, the building is home to the City of Spokane's water department's administration building and offices.

Steele says the building currently houses 16 employees, who will all remain in the building while the upgrades take place.

According to permit applications submitted to the City of Spokane, the total project will cost an estimated $1.05 million. Improvements listed include an interior remodel of the existing lobby, locker room, new conference room, and office reconfigurations. 

“Our cost estimate says it should be just a little bit lower than that,” Steele says. “But we’re playing guessing games, as you can imagine, with the tariffs and ordering right now.”

Spokane-based Integrus Architecture PS is listed as the architect on the project.

In addition to the new offices and training room, the building will receive upgraded ADA accessibility, improvements to the public spaces in the hallway, and improvements to the control room.

“They bring a lot of students through from grade school and junior high,” Steele says. “So we’re kind of touching all those spaces and doing a little bit of an energy and insulation upgrade on the existing office space.”

According to the city's website, the hydroelectric dam, built in 1894, generates over 70 million kilowatt-hours annually, powering the pumps that deliver 150 million gallons of drinking water daily to over 230,000 residents. Avista Utilities purchases excess power generated by the dam.