The Washington state Department of Social and Health Services is vacating a large office complex at 1925 E. Francis this month to save costs and consolidate operations, and the building now is listed for lease.

DSHS spokesman John Wiley says the agency has occupied the 35,000-square-foot building, known as its Spokane North community services and WorkFirst office, for about 20 years. It has leased the one-story building at $40,835 a month under a lease agreement that ended this fall, so the agency decided to vacate the space after Dec. 9 as part of agency-wide consolidation plans.

The Francis site closure is expected to save the agency almost $500,000 a year, when also factoring in utilities and other upkeep, Wiley says. DSHS will continue to offer its services in Spokane at two other locations, and through its online and customer-service call center.

A majority of the 85 employees at the Francis location will move to the agency's 8517 E. Trent office, Wiley says, although a few will move to DSHS's office at 1313 N. Maple.

The Spokane North location has offered services for the agency's economic and medical field services, working with as many as 6,000 clients a month, DSHS says.

The building, owned by James F. Cotter of San Antonio, is up for lease through Coldwell Banker Tomlinson South. Leasing agent Joel Crosby says the listing for the office complex located on 3 acres opened only about a week ago, and that there aren't any prospective tenants for it yet.

He says that upgrades will likely be made to the building, based on the needs of a future tenant.

The building had a major remodel 20 years ago, before DSHS moved in, when then-owner Worthy Enterprises, led by Spokane developer Walt Worthy, bought the old Peoples Lumber Co. property there, at the northwest corner of Francis and Crestline Street. Worthy Enterprises renovated and expanded the main building on the site to convert it into an office complex. The remodel included installing an exterior facade of reflective glass.