Late last month, the Journal of Business hosted Daines Capital Commercial Real Estate owner Steven Daines for its most recent Elevating The Conversation podcast about growth in Liberty Lake and Spokane Valley. 

The Elevating The Conversation podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, and elsewhere. Search for it on any of those platforms or the Journal's website to hear the entire conversation, but for now, here are five takeaways—edited for space and clarity—from the episode.

1. Multiple factors are behind large national companies expanding to the Liberty Lake-Spokane Valley area.

I think one of the deep economy drivers is the government pumped so much money into the economy, especially during COVID, that the money then filters into the largest companies, and then that filters down to their vendors and their sub-companies.

They've gotta go spend it. They've gotta go open up new shops, grab new markets, go to new territories. So as that money pushes and filters down through the economy, they're looking at, “well, if we're already in the top-100 cities, where can we go next?”

So, we start becoming that next option of affordability, location, availability. If they're looking to fill in the map, it just makes a lot of sense to start filling into Spokane.

I do believe it'll continue to happen. We've been a tier-three city for a long time. We've been in that tertiary market. We're a top-200 city, but we're not a top-100 city.

As we keep climbing up and we keep getting noticed, then other large companies will look and say, okay, I can come plant out there, I can come work there. It's not as expensive as a top 50-city, and I have the labor force to support me for what I need. 

So we're going to continue to see that growth.

We still have land to go build on. We still have land to go expand on and, compared to any top-100 or -50 city, we don't have traffic.

2. Liberty Lake has plenty of vacant land, but it’s not all available.

Liberty Lake is kind of special in that there's still so much vacant land. From building to building or across the freeway, there's a lot of dirt. So, there's lots of room to grow and it's gonna be all types and kinds that are gonna grow in there—not just housing, not just medical offices.

We're gonna see all kinds of things popping up and growing and expanding. And of course, Ridgeline High School is gonna grow and expand again as well. So that area will fill up. It'll just be really exciting to see.

And I should probably be careful how I say available versus vacant. I should clarify that. There is a lot there, but not a whole lot of it is actually for sale or lease. You have 50 acres or so owned by the Department of Natural Resources that they're sitting on. It's vacant. Someday it will be available, right? So, when you look around, there's gonna be more coming.

3. The Mirabeau Point area will likely continue to grow.

That’s what we're seeing, as case in point, with Dave & Busters.

They tried to work out a deal for the old Sears in the Spokane Valley Mall. I don't know how long they spent on it, but they couldn't come to terms. And so they went just slightly over, just a little northwest, call it a block and a half, and there you go.

That area kind of between the Valley Mall and the Mirabeau Point area, that chunk will continue to build out and it will become its own little microcosm.

When a hotel went there, maybe it was two, three years ago, it seemed like a weird place for it. It's doing phenomenal. They're very happy with it.

Then you have the senior living out there. And then of course if you go just a little up from there, you have all of Mirabeau Parkway, all the businesses out there that Divcon's done, and they're beautiful and they've got the river.

And that's where F5 is going. So between there and the mall, that whole area is gonna fill out.

4. The region is still benefiting from pandemic-driven population growth.

We had the big boom—the massive population growth before COVID, and then right through COVID—of people exiting larger cities, coming to Spokane from Portland and Seattle, or from California.

I remember we broke some glass or something at my house and I went to a glass shop during that big boom. The entire sales counter was full of orders.

And you peel that back, and what does that mean? Well, part of that is people moving from more affluent areas. They might come in, buy a house, pay cash, and replace every single window to bring it up to date.

There's this huge supply and demand mismatch that Spokane is still benefiting from, of more work to do, more people to serve, more opportunities.

5. Inland Northwest growth opportunities are available beyond the Liberty Lake-Spokane Valley area.

There's approximately 1.8 million vacant square feet of logistics space on the West Plains. You have a range of buildings, you have several brand new, but then you have a couple that are 30 years old.

So, there's a real opportunity for people to get creative out there and when and if new businesses come out, whether or not they're a logistics company, to say, “Hey, I see you have the space. I'm ready to do this. Can you make these changes for me? I'm ready to go.” I do feel there's just massive opportunity for people to take advantage of several different landlords, which I think is a good thing.

So, lots of opportunity there to grow business wise because the real estate infrastructure is already there.

Hayden continues to grow and expand, and then if you go out to the Coeur d'Alene Airport, Pappy Boyington Field, there's some high-end beautiful buildings out there.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.