June 1 / New candy, gum, bottled water taxes take effect Washington extended its retail sales and use tax to candy, gum, and bottled water effective June 1. Separately, Costco Wholesale Corp., of Issaquah, Wash., and the Wilsonville, /

Meetings & Events The Spokane Home Builders Association will hold a free barbeque and silent auction on Thursday, June 3, from 6 to 8 p.m., at 2110 N. Fancher, in Spokane Valley. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Academy. a

Real estate investors worldwide are painting a more optimistic picture of the market, with many convinced that the next up cycle will begin in the year ahead. That optimism is reflected by two out of three respondents to Colliers International's a

509 Inc., a snowmobile video and accessory distributor, has leased 4,900 square feet of space at 2501 N. Farr and plans to move there in July from smaller quarters in the Legion Building, at 342 W. Riverside. Doug Byrd, of Byrd Real Estate Group of

NAI Black, a prominent Spokane-based commercial real estate brokerage, has opened a sales and leasing office in Coeur d'Alene.The new office is located in 550 square feet of leased space in the Silver Lake Mall, at 200 W. Hanley, says Jeff of to

Spokane Rock Products Inc., of Spokane, has won a $750,000 city of Spokane contract to rehabilitate several streets near Balboa Elementary School, in northwest Spokane.In the project, Spokane Rock Products will apply a chip seal to the road of A

T.W. Clark Construction LLC, of Spokane, says it has been awarded two more contracts for out-of-town projects totaling about $12 million. It also recently won an $800,000 project to make improvements at Garry Middle School here, and is working on a

Eller Corp., of Newman Lake, is the apparent low bidder for two city of Spokane street rehabilitation projects worth a combined $2.6 million. One of the projects is located on Spokane's South Hill, and the other is in northeast Spokane.Eller bid