Predictions from nearly every economic sector here point to a vibrant year aheadPull out your sunglasses, because the economy here looks to be brightening.Based on interviews with dozens of experts and observers in the industry sectors that

Spokane real estate investor Vince Dressel and his wife, Janet, have bought a grain-silo complex just north of downtown, but havent decided yet what theyll do with it.The couple paid $775,000 for the complex, which includes a long building

Foothills Auto Group, of Spokane, is converting the east end of its Foothills Lincoln-Mercury Mazda dealership building into a new Mazda showroom.Chris Marr, vice president of Foothills Auto, says work started last month at the North Side on to

WAM Enterprises Inc., of Spokane, has agreed to buy the Deer Park Fairgrounds and is envisioning a mixed-use development at the 12-acre site.Meanwhile, the city of Deer Park is working with the Deer Park Fair Board to relocate the fairgrounds,

The city of Spokane has secured $3 million in construction funding for a planned extension of Riverside Avenue from Division Street east along the southern boundary of the Riverpoint Higher Education Park. Phase one of the project could start next

Providence Health Care, Spokanes largest hospital-system operator, has hired a high-profile industry consultant to evaluate the performance of its hospitals, and says the intensive study likely will result in cost-cutting measures.The Inc., 6

Beehive Homes, an assisted-living facility operator in North Idaho, plans to build a $3 million nursing home in Kellogg, Idaho, in 2005 and to start work on a $2.5 million addition to one of its two facilities in Coeur dAlene shortly.Beehive,

Plans are under way to build a $12 million bridge that would carry Havana Street over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks that lie just north of Broadway Avenue on the citys eastern edge.Construction bids for the project could be

Salah Uddin has parlayed his experience in international business into a niche that capitalizes on personnel shortages in the U.S. Since 2001, Uddin and his small Spokane company, American Industries International Inc., have been in the of and

A $12 million project that would include a seven-story medical-office building and a four-level parking garage is being planned for a site just south of Holy Family Hospital on Spokanes North Side.Developers Al French and Rob Daugherty have a