HomeStreet Inc., a Seattle-based lender that does business as HomeStreet Bank, has expanded commercial lending services into Spokane and has hired financial services veterans Steve Storey and Cliff Poffenroth to lead commercial lending here.

HomeStreet Bank also plans to follow its commercial lending entry here with a full-service retail branch, Storey says.

For now, the commercial lending office will be located in the RLH Building, at 201 W. North River Drive, where it will join HomeStreet Bank’s Spokane home mortgage and commercial real estate offices, Storey says.

HomeStreet Bank’s other Spokane-area home loan centers are at 16114 E. Indiana, in Spokane Valley, and at 1900 Northwest Blvd., in Coeur d’Alene.

Storey, a HomeStreet Bank senior vice president, has more than 35 years of financial services experience, having held executive positions in private banking and wealth management with three other financial institutions.

Poffenroth is a vice president and relationship manager for commercial lending in Spokane. He has 10 years of financial services and commercial lending experience in Spokane.

Storey says HomeStreet Bank’s Spokane and Spokane Valley mortgage offices are among the top originators of home loans in Spokane County.

“Given the fact that the mortgage teams have done well, and Spokane is the second largest market in the state, we thought, ‘Why not go to Spokane with commercial lending and follow it up with a retail branch?’” he says.

The commercial lending office will provide a full line of banking products, including checking and deposit accounts, and services ranging from helping businesses finance inventory and accounts receivable to financing new buildings, equipment, or acquisitions, Storey says.

The commercial lending office eventually will share a location with the envisioned retail branch, which HomeStreet hopes to open after the first of the year, he says, adding, “We’re in the process of looking at various properties.”

Storey, a Shadle Park High School and Eastern Washington University graduate, says he’s spent half his life and half his career in Spokane, and the other half in Seattle.

HomeStreet Bank has 113 branches and loan-center locations in seven states, and it has been expanding rapidly on the West Coast, especially in California.