The story of a Spokane venture started by a self-described homebody begins a half a world away.It was early 2000 when Pete Smith founded the business, called Mainstream Watergarden Construction, out of his Spokane home. Instead of relying on and

ICT Group Inc.s big Spokane Valley call-center operation is in the process of hiring 100 additional workers here to handle customer relations for a new nationwide wireless-telephone service thats being launched by Virgin Group, the quirky and a

Though the regulatory maze remains tortuous for some, developing property in the Spokane area appears to be getting easier, industry and government officials say.That may be most evident in comments by developers, contrasted by time.Its a

After first claiming that it had no record of involvement in suspect power-trading schemes, Avista Corp. has told the U.S. government that it was used by Enron Corp. in the Death Star power-trading strategy in April, May, and June made the

A small group of Spokane investors is buying an older, four-story building downtown and plans to redevelop it into about a dozen loft condominiums.Steve Thosath, one of the investors, says the group expects to close shortly on the purchase of at

LOI Distributing Inc., a Lakewood, Wash.-based discount retailer that operates the Dollar Store chain, plans to open its third store here and is looking into eventually opening three more outlets in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area.Bill LOI vice

A former Avista Communications executive has launched a Post Falls company that provides training in telecommunications technologies. The company, Northlight Institute of Technology Inc., was founded by Terry Jett, who previously was vice of for

Hecla Mining Co., of Coeur dAlene, would cut its annual obligations by $8 million if it succeeds in persuading holders of its Series B cumulative convertible preferred stock to exchange their shares for common stock.Hecla announced June 13 it

FirstBank Northwest Corp., a Lewiston-based bank that opened a branch office in Liberty Lake in 1999, plans to open a commercial-loan center near downtown Spokane this summer.FirstBank plans to open the center at the beginning of August, and or

Construction could begin this summer on 40 to 50 high-end homes in the Black Rock golf-resort development near Coeur dAlene Lake, developer Marshall Chesrown says.Although no building permits have been issued for homes at Black Rock, Chesrown