(Updated 12:20 p.m. Pacific time on 3/28/19, with revised contractor's name and updated square footage figures.)

MW Consulting Engineers PS, a Spokane design and engineering firm, plans to move in May to the 13th floor of the Wells Fargo Center, at 601 W. First downtown. 

James McCue, business operations manager at MW Consulting, says the company started remodeling work on 11,600-square-foot space in November. Building permit information on file with the city lists Elcon Construction, of Spokane Valley, as the contractor on the $300,000 remodel project, and HDG Architecture, of Spokane, as the architect. Construction includes a full remodel.

MW Consulting will move from just over 7,000 square feet of floor space in the Wheatland Bank Financial Center, at 222 N. Wall downtown, where it has been located since the 1990s.  

McCue says it’s an affordable move to a slightly larger space.

“We felt there was enough value to move in that direction,” McCue says. “It’s kind of a wash in terms of what we will pay for what we get. We end up paying more overall, but we also get more space. On a dollar for dollar basis, it’s pretty much an even trade.”  

The move will provide space better suited to the needs of the staff of 50 people, McCue says, and the new quarters will be designed for efficient use of space, as there will be two conference rooms and a common area. The new space also will have a bigger kitchen for employees. 

“(We’re) looking to have this be a space that works for us for the long term,” McCue says.

The interior is designed to bring more daylight into the space, he says. McCue says employees value natural lighting and that it enhances the office environment. 

The new office also will have room for the firm to grow if it needs to add more employees in the future.

MW designs complex mechanical and electrical systems which it integrates with information technology, technology, security, and electronic controls, and communication networks for clients in the health care, higher education, and government sectors.

Recent Spokane projects include design work for the University Gateway Bridge, the First Interstate Center for the Arts, and the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center Special Pathogens Unit.

Other specialized work has included systems designs for U.S. Embassies in the Middle East and northern Africa.

Spokane-based commercial real estate brokerage Kiemle Hagood handled the lease at the Wells Fargo Center with Ron Horton, Richard Fox, Mike Livingston and Craig Soehren, which is owned by Spokane-based nonprofit Inland Northwest Health Services.