Passages Family Support, a nonprofit, outpatient mental health center, has purchased Sunset Pointe Business Park building for $10.1 million from Arger Sunset LLC, says Gene Arger, of Arger Co. Real Estate Inc.

Passages Family Support had been a tenant at Sunset Pointe, located at 1700 S. Assembly, since 2018, occupying 82% of the three-story building. The balance of the space had been unoccupied, he says. 

Teresa Sherman, of Spokane-based Paukert & Troppmann PLLC and attorney for Passages Family Support, says via email that the purchase of the 69,000-square-foot building is expected to produce long-term savings in operating expenses. 

The purchase was finalized on Sept. 6 and was financed through Spokane-based Washington Trust Bank, she adds.

Passages provides mental health assessment, treatment, and support to children, youth, and adults. It receives Medicaid funding and employs a staff of 60, she says. 

Sherman adds that with the purchase, Passages plans to build a peer respite home on the near 4-acre property. The organization has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the Washington state Department of Commerce for the project. 

Passages has hired Yakima, Washington-based RJS Construction Inc. as the project’s contractor, and Spokane-based ROMR Architects as the projects’ architect. Construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed by July 2023, says Sherman. 

The peer respite home will be a four-bedroom, 29,600-square-foot home that will accommodate up to four respite guests for up to seven nights a month, says Sherman. 

Guests at the respite home are individuals who are actively working to address their behavioral health challenges, explains Sherman. Peers at the respite home will assist guests to identify their strengths and how to use those strengths to continue on the path of increased health, says Sherman. 

“The services (at the respite home) are designed for persons who are deep in their recovery but need occasional support to maintain that recovery,” explains Sherman.

Sunset Pointe was constructed in 1997, says Arger. Its previous tenant was Northwest Farm Credit Services, which moved out in 2016 after it purchased its current corporate headquarters, the former Ambassadors Group building, at 2001 S. Flint Road., he says.