Mike McLean

YES, SPOKANE, IT'S AMAZON!

Mega-retailer discloses plans for massive warehouse on the West Plains

July 20, 2018

It's Amazon. Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. today delivered confirmation of earlier reports first published by the Journal that the online mega-retailer plans to construct a massive distribution facility that will employ more than 1,500 people on the We

Worthy Hotels acquires Hotel RL Spokane at the Park

Property renamed Centennial Hotel Spokane

July 17, 2018

Mike McLean

Worthy Hotels Inc., the Spokane-based parent company of four prominent downtown hotels, has bought the Hotel RL Spokane at the Park, near downtown Spokane. The hotel, located on 7 acres of land on the north bank of the Spokane River, at 303 W. North Ri

Building permit application filed for presumed Amazon center

Project's value listed at $181 million

June 4, 2018

Mike McLean

The Spokane County Building and Planning Department has received a building permit application for a presumed Amazon.com Inc. distribution center. The application lists the project value at $181 million. The project site is on the West Plains, on the n

Spokane Amazon project takes form

Planning records suggest fulfillment center here will have at least 1,800 employees

May 24, 2018

Mike McLean

Amazon.com Inc. is on track to begin construction here as soon as early summer on a massive fulfillment center planned near Spokane International Airport, planning records indicate. Technical and environmental documents recently filed with Spokane County

The city of Spokane's environmental report card

City's operational improvements save water, reduce pollution

May 10, 2018

Mike McLean

The city of Spokane recently issued its environmental report card, which highlights an ongoing menu of eco-friendly efforts to support and encourage environmental sustainability through financially stable means, says Catherine Olsen, the city's environmen

Super Oval promoter abruptly cancels season

Road course, drag strip unaffected by closure

May 10, 2018

Mike McLean

A few weeks after expressing optimism that he might turn a profit this year, the promoter of the half-mile oval racetrack at Spokane County Raceway has raised the black flag on the season. On April 30, Rick Nelson, owner of Spokane Super Oval LLC, anno

State launches online retirement marketplace

Program intends to increase access to savings boost plan

April 26, 2018

Mike McLean

Since the launch of the Washington Retirement Marketplace last month, the nation's first state-verified online marketplace for low-cost retirement plans, its director, Carolyn McKinnon, says the program is receiving an encouraging number of calls and we

Amazon of a project is in the works in Spokane area

Not HQ2, but proposal near airport still big by any standard

April 12, 2018

Mike McLean

The Spokane County Planning Department is reviewing conceptual plans for a massive distribution facility to be constructed near Spokane International Airport. While the name of the company that will operate the facility is conspicuously absent from the p

Industrial developments gear up in Valley

Work starts on one big factory, is planned on another

March 29, 2018

Mike McLean

Efforts to fast-track infrastructure improvements and the construction permitting process in the 800-acre Barker-Euclid industrial area in northeast Spokane Valley have helped attract economic development there. Menlo Park, Calif.-based design-build cont

Kootenai Health launches master plan's third phase

$45 million second phase to be completed in summer

March 29, 2018

Mike McLean

Coeur d'Alene-based health network Kootenai Health has started work on the $12 million third phase of construction and expects to complete its $45 million second phase this summer at its main hospital campus, at 2003 Kootenai Health Way, near the northw