Mike McLean

Bobby Brett-led group acquires Madison Apartments in downtown Spokane

Plans to join improvement efforts for 'little arts district'

April 21, 2016

A real estate development group led by Spokane sports team owner Bobby Brett has bought for $3.4 million the Madison Apartments building, at the southeast corner of Madison Street and First Avenue downtown. The five-story building has 68 apartment units

Inland Northwest ski resorts rebound

Adequate snowpack squelches slide in skier visits

April 21, 2016

Mike McLean

Five Inland Northwest ski resorts are coming off much-improved seasons following the disastrous 2014-15 snow-drought season. Brad McQuarrie, general manager at Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park, says the park 30 miles north of Spokane had many outstanding

Project plans swell at Catholic Charities of Spokane

Goals include apartments for all Spokane homeless

April 21, 2016

Mike McLean

Catholic Charities of Spokane and its housing partners plan to break ground this year on multiple developments with a construction value approaching $60 million that would provide nearly 500 low-income apartment units in the Spokane area. Preliminary pla

Baker starts constructing retail project north of 'Y'

Aspen Dental, Mod Pizza, Wells Fargo to be tenants

April 7, 2016

Mike McLean

Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, has obtained building permits to construct Heritage North, a 10,000-square-foot, three-tenant retail building that will replace two, nearly 40-year-old buildings at 9405 N. Newport Highway. Prominent Spo

Fruci firm buys former Keller Williams building

Move from longtime site downtown planned in fall

April 7, 2016

Mike McLean

Spokane accounting firm Fruci & Associates PS has bought for $1.9 million the 14,300-square-foot, single-story office building at 802 N. Washington that formerly was occupied by Keller Williams Realty Spokane. The firm plans to move there from the Fruci B

Panhandle EXPANSION

Credit union plans to construct new Post Falls, Hayden branches

April 7, 2016

Mike McLean

Southern Idaho-based Idaho Central Credit Union has just one modest branch in North Idaho, but the credit union has big growth plans there, just as it's enjoying consistent strong performance across the financial cooperative, says Coeur d'Alene branch

Landing a drone hub

Kootenai County growing autonomous-vehicle tech sector

April 7, 2016

Mike McLean

Efforts are underway to lift the status of Kootenai County as a national hub for drone technology. Brad Ward, president of Hayden-based Empire Unmanned LLC, contends the Hayden, Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, and Rathdrum area has a collaborative edge ov

Providing workers conduit to careers in construction

West Plains facility seeks to replenish laborer ranks

April 7, 2016

Mike McLean

The Construction Industry Training Council of Washington is helping more than 100 mostly Spokane-area workers start careers in construction trades with classroom and lab courses at its new Eastern Washington Region facility on the West Plains. CITC, the

McDowell reworks condo plan

1400 Tower project would front W. Riverside Avenue

April 7, 2016

Mike McLean

Spokane developer Mick McDowell says he plans to construct a 14-story, 50-unit condominium tower west of downtown, uphill from a site where he had proposed a contentious project a decade ago. The latest project, to be called the 1400 Tower, would be loca

Kootenai County construction rolls over setbacks

Permitted, planned projects total close to $250 million

March 24, 2016

Mike McLean

Construction projects approaching $250 million are planned or under way in Kootenai County despite having three high-profile projects recently taken off the table in Coeur d'Alene. The north Kootenai County city of Hayden looks to be in position for a