Lacey, Wash.-based multidisciplinary consulting firm SCJ Alliance has acquired Spokane-based community planning and design firm Studio Cascade Inc., says Eric Johnston, the latter firm’s executive vice president.

Studio Cascade’s founder, Bill Grimes, has also become a partner with SCJ Alliance, says Johnston. The Spokane office still does business as Studio Cascade but describes itself as part of SCJ Alliance.

Pam Folsom, spokeswoman for SCJ Alliance, says the firm has been interested in expanding to the Spokane region for some time.

“Spokane has been an area that we thought there was a lot of potential” within the city and surrounding area for the firm’s services, says Folsom.

She says Studio Cascade’s expertise complemented that of SCJ Alliance.

“Some of our strong suits were some that (Studio Cascade) didn’t have so much of, and vice versa,” she says.

Johnston says the acquisition became effective July 1. He declines to disclose the terms of the transaction.

Folsom says SCJ Alliance specializes in civil engineering, transportation design and planning, landscape architecture, and community planning. The firm has 95 employees based in eight offices, including the newly acquired Spokane operation.

Johnston says six of those employees work out of the Studio Cascade 2,000-square-foot office at 429 E. Sprague. Within the next year, a couple of employees probably will join the office here, and between 10 and 12 employees could end up working here long term, he adds.

 SCJ Alliance already has added landscape architecture, he says.

In addition to SCJ Alliance having a physical Spokane presence, Studio Cascade benefits from the transaction for two main reasons, says Johnston.

First, the firm will have the support of personnel and resources from other offices.

Additionally, Studio Cascade focuses more on the design elements on a project, and SCJ can provide resources to take projects further than that.

“SCJ Alliance has planners, engineers, and landscape architects. We design and manage the construction for these types of projects,” says Johnston. “So now we’ve got that front-end piece that we really wanted to strengthen, and he’s getting the rest of that.”

SCJ Alliance, a trade name for Shea Carr & Jewell Inc., also has two offices in Seattle and one each in Boulder, Colo.; Centralia, Wash.; Vancouver, Wash.; and Wenatchee, Wash.