Optometrist Dr. Clay Evans has purchased the Eye Care Team practice in downtown Spokane from longtime owner Dr. Rick Kellogg.

Evans took over ownership on Jan. 1. He declines to disclose the purchase price for the practice, which operates in 4,000 square feet of space at 126 N. Washington, at the southeast corner of Washington Street and Main Avenue.

Evans is leasing the building from Kellogg,  who owns that property. Kellogg began practicing in 1978. Evans, for almost the past decade, was employed at a Shopko eye care center in Lewiston, Idaho.

The 37-year-old Evans says the Eye Care Team has 11 employees, three of whom work part time, including Kellogg now. Evans says he’s still trying to get a handle on how to run the practice and says he’s thankful for the assistance Kellogg and his wife, Sue, have provided.

“They have been phenomenal in helping me transition,” Evans says. Current staff has largely remained the same since Evans’ acquisition, he says.

Evans says he and his wife, Trisha, had been searching for an optometry practice to purchase the last three years.

“This couldn’t have worked out any better,” he says. “It’s one of those events in your life that just feels like it was meant to be.”

Evans wanted his own practice as he was feeling constricted in his field.

“I felt a little limited in my scope of practice working in corporate optometry,” Evans says. “I wanted to be in a position where I could spread my wings a little more.”

Evans specifically cites the ability to now more effectively explore—and incorporate—new technology into his practice, something he was unable to do with his previous employer.

“The changes in technology in our field are constant,” Evans says. “I want us to be able to stay on top of that in order to effectively diagnose and treat ocular conditions.”