Latest News

Four Spokane-area credit unions rank high on Puget Sound Business Journal's list

STCU, Numerica in top five; Horizon, Global place

January 30, 2014

Four Spokane-area credit unions are among the 20 largest in Washington state in terms of total assets, according to a top 25 credit unions list that the Puget Sound Business Journal published earlier this month. Two of the organizations here, Spokane Te

Umpqua's Sterling acquisition is part of larger trend

More banks likely to merge in regulatory environment

January 30, 2014

Ezra Eckhardt

As Portland, Ore.-based Umpqua Holding Corp. and Spokane-based Sterling Financial Corp. await regulatory approval of the proposed merger of their respective banks, it's a good time to pause and consider how the financial landscape is shifting in both th

Inland Northwest public companies show growth in 2013 index

Bank stocks perform well; Coldwater Creek plummets

January 30, 2014

Treva Lind

Hart Capital Management Inc., a Spokane-based investment firm, says the stock value of 14 publicly traded Inland Northwest companies rose just over 12 percent last year in an overall index, but still lagged behind the Standard & Poor 500's nearly 30 per

RiverBank is back to 'playing offense'

Institution profitable again, expects FDIC to terminate consent order soon

January 30, 2014

Kim Crompton

RiverBank, an eight-year-old bank here that has sought to differentiate itself in the competitive local financial market by offering concierge services to mostly small-business and commercial clients here, says it returned to profitability last year and i

Inland Northwest lenders undergo repo reduction

'Dramatic improvement' said tied to optimism in economy

January 30, 2014

Mike McLean

Financial institutions have reduced greatly the amount of repossessed real estate on their books following the Great Recession. Scott Southwick, chief credit officer for Spokane-based Inland Northwest Bank, says nonperforming assets, which include reposs

Geothermal gains share in custom home market

Alternative costs more to install, less to operate

January 30, 2014

Mike McLean

Geothermal heating and cooling systems are gaining acceptance in residential construction here, although most adopters of the heat-transfer technology are in the upscale custom home market. Jeff Fountain, a principal at Copeland Architecture & Constructi

Low-impact development said to be in higher demand

Landscape architect reports more inquiries about environmentally friendly architecture

January 30, 2014

Treva Lind

Landscape architect Len Zickler, a principal in the Spokane office of Tacoma-based AHBL Inc., says the company is seeing more requests to design environmentally friendly infrastructure to manage stormwater drainage. He expects this approach, called low-

Kiemle & Hagood subsidiary promotes greener building management practices

brokerage's subsidiary works to help owners find savings

January 30, 2014

Kim Crompton

Kiemle & Hagood Co. says it and a facility-services subsidiary it operates have been using greener building management and maintenance practices they implemented fully three years ago to help building owners and tenants achieve sizable energy savings. Th

Market Facts - Art Only

-

January 30, 2014

Staff Report

City of Spokane stormwater tank projects move forward

Garco Construction named to build what's to be biggest combined sewer overflow container to date

January 30, 2014

Katie Ross

The Spokane City Council awarded in December a $7.7 million contract to Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, to build a 1.5 million gallon combined sewer overflow (CSO) tank, says city spokeswoman Marlene Feist. Construction of the tank is slated to beg