Benewah Community Hospital expands

The new expansion at Benewah Community Hospital in St. Maries is now complete and open to the public . The new expansion is on the east side of the hospital and is a 5 story tower built with a total cost of 28.5 million dollars. The new hospital tower covers 54,000 square feet and includes...
-New patient rooms
-New Family Practice
-New Specialty Clinic
-Upgraded Physical Therapy Clinic
As well as permanent MRI equipment now on site

The Hospital plans to continue the upgrades by new remodeling to ER space and demolishing the former St. Maries Family Medicine clinic to make way for new surface parking areas.

For more info on Benewah Community Hospital visit - www.bchmed.org

LOCAL Business News:Apr 28th 2012

In the Spokane area...

A new tattoo parlor has opened, Barking Dog Tattoo is open and can be found at 1810 E. Sprague in Spokane.

GU Look Great Hair Design is celebrating their grand opening, The new Spokane Hair Salon is located at 4601 N Nevada Ave.

Athletic Edge is a new year round indoor baseball and softball training now open in 5000 sq feet of of space in Spokane Valley at 11110 E. Empire .

Magnuson Orthodontics is now open in North Spokane at 10121 N Nevada Ave.

Fessco Fleet and Marine is moving into 64000 sq feet of space at 3025 S. Geiger Rd. . Fessco is moving there from space on E. Broadway, Fessco provides custom detailing and painting services.

Columbia Bank which is the bank who took over for Bank of Whitman after the goverment closed that bank, will move their Downtown Spokane regional headquarters from their current offices across Riverside from the STA Bus Plaza into the Fernwell Building at 505 W. Riverside.Columbia Bank will take over about 10000 sq feet in total on both the 1st and 4th floors of the Fernwell.

The Spokane VA Hospital be expand by opening a new 18000 square foot Outpatient Mental Health Center at 4815 N Assembly in Spokane.

Fat Daddy's Pizza will close and remodel and re-open with a new name and new but similar style menu.The new resturant will be called The Drafthouse and will remain in the strip mall unit next to the Wandermere Cinema by Hwy 395 and Hastings Rd in North Spokane.

Brian Olmstead Message Therapy is moving into space at 205 W. Indiana in Spokane from an office on W. Garland 


Rose Castle Events Center has opened in a former church in Spokane.The event center is located at 2303 N. Washington . The Rose Castle event center also can host weddings among other events.

Northern Lights Brewing Co. has re branded and now has new name. The new business is now No-Li Brewhouse .No-Li will remain in there space in the Riverwalk Center on E. Trent just east of Spokane.

Love Indian Food? Then watch for Swagat Indian Cuisine opening soon in Spokane Valley,The restaurant will be located at  14415 E. Sprague Ave.



Business news happening in Coeur d' Alene and the rest of North Idaho....

Whiting Fast Teeth Whiting has moved into a new Downtown Coeur d' Alene office.The Teeth Whiting business is now on the 2nd floor directly above The Moose Lounge on Sherman.

Something Special vendor mall is moving down a few spaces in the Ironwood Square Shopping Center at Ironwood and Lincoln in Coeur d Alene. Something Special will now be closer to Albertson's in the former medical supply store's space.

Grassroots Recycling has moved into a new location,The recycling business is now at the Bonner Business Center in Bay 4 in Sandpoint.


Butterfly Gardens is going out of business,the business had been in Midtown Coeur d' Alene at 804 N 4th St. 


KWI Property Management has moved into the former Rusty's Detailing building near the intersection of Idahline Rd. and Seltice Way on the west side of Post Falls.

Watch for a new restaurant opening in Hayden,The new neighborhood bar will be called Moose Creek Neighboorhood Pub & Grill and will be in strip mall next to Dazzle Resale Clothing at Goverment Way and Prairie Ave.

The Post Falls location of Curves has moved out of the River City Plaza near Seltice and Greensferry Rd.

3rd Ave. Dog Grooming has moved from Post Falls to 104 E. Spruce in Coeur d' Alene.

EJ'S Dollar Store is now open in Rathdrum, EJ's is a full service dollar store with groceries and more in Rathdrum at 6600 Commercial Park Ave.

Macxperts has closed,the mac computer sales and service store had been in the Mullan Plaza at the corner of Mullan and Cecil Rd.

Big changes in store at Tullamore

Tullamore is a mixed used development that was opened by a Boise based developer in Post Falls back in 2006 .The large development was to include over 1,000 single family homes and a large shopping center all on the site off of Hwy 41 inbetween Poleline Rd and Prarie Ave on the Northeast edge of Post Falls. But now in 2012 the project has slowed due to today's local economy and has been turned over to the financing bank,Panhandle State Bank.
But there is still hope for Tullamore as the bank and a new developer are purposing a new phase for the devlopment. In the coming months look for new projects off of Tullamore's Early Dawn Ave nearby the Poleline/ Hwy 41 intersection.The new developments will include....
-An assited living community (no name or owner revealed as of yet)
-An duplex style semi assited living community with 2 units each housing a group of senior citizens
-Another new apartment complex,The Tullamore Commons Apartments went up about a year ago and now watch for Tullmore Commons II Apartments.The new complex will include 51 new apartments all built by Hayden based Whitewater Creek.
-A non-profit community health clinic,The clinic will be a branch location of the Coeur d' Alene based Dirne Clinic and will be Dirne's first operation in Post Falls.
There is now time-line sent for when construction might begin or even opening dates for the new projects however some development will probably be soon as Developers note that Tullamore is in a prime spot for such a project.

Also Tullamore is continueing with new single family homes and lot sales.Hayden based Copper Basin Construction is now the development company in charge of the new single family homes which are still for sale/under construction with a price range of 130,000 to 240,000.Also Century 21 Real Estate is marketing the Tullamore Cottages project within Tullamore along Early Dawn Ave.,Tullamore Cottages are smaller cottage style homes and will sell for in the 140,000 range.

More new apartments coming to Coeur d' Alene

In today's local economy apartments are in demand and with the large groups of "baby boomers" reaching their retirement years senior citizen apartment communities are even more in demand, hence the first new apartment complex coming soon to Coeur d' Alene...


The Affinity at Coeur d' Alene
This new senior apartment community has just begun construction here in the last couple of weeks but has been in the works for sometime now (their was a funding tie-up earlyer in the year). The Affinity at Coeur d' Alene will be located off of Cedarblom St. and in between Black Sheep Sporting Goods and the Safeway off of Neider Ave. The affinity is part of the larger group, Affinity Living Communities which has already has a similar community in Walla Walla and many more under construction now thru-out the Northwest including 2 in Spokane(more on this later...) . The Coeur d' Alene apartment community will be made up of 121 rental units with garages and even a on site pool house. For more info on The Affinity at Coeur d' Alene visit http://www.affinityforliving.com/

But for those who aren't in their golden years,comes another new major apartment complex opening even sooner in Coeur d' Alene...

Riverview Apartments at Mill River
These new apartments are currently under construction on Seltice Way directly across from the Mill River Development and only a couple of blocks north of the Spokane River which allows for the apartments to have a pleasant view of the River,Hence the name Riverview. The Riverview Apartments are a market rate apartment community with 120 rental units in several 4 story buildings,also on the site will be a clubhouse/ leasing office near the entry on the now under construction, Idlewild Loop . The Riverview at Mill River will also offer garages and free wifi in the clubhouse. Some pets will also be welcome in the new complex. For more info on The Riverview Apartments at Mill River call 208-446-6504 or visit their website at www.riverviewapts.net .

There are also several apartment projects underway in Spokane and the 2nd phase of Post Falls' Silver Creek Apartments is also underway,so stay tuned to this blog for more on new apartments and all new local business in the Spokane and Coeur d' Alene area.

Company Profile: Lean Bean Coffee

Today's Inland Northwest Business Watch local company profile is of Lean Bean Coffee. The Lean Bean is coffee drive thru with 2 locations in Coeur d' Alene. Their locations can be found at 1207 E Sherman Ave out front of Peterson's Family Foods grocery store and 1820 Northwest Blvd near Riverstone both in Coeur d' Alene. The Lean Bean is now celebrating 8 years in business and in those 8 years they have become a favorite coffee shop of many,including myself. The Lean Bean is open Mon thru Friday 5am till 7pm ,Saturday 6am till 7pm and Sunday 6am till 6pm .For more info on Lean Bean Coffee Shops visit their facebook page at-
http://www.facebook.com/#!/Leanbeancoffee

Want to get your businesses name and info out there with a company profile on this blog? e-mail me at inlandbusiness@yahoo.com or look up Inland Northwest Business Watch on Facebook at www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch

Rockwood Medicare Clinic now open

Offering another option for the growing numbers Inland Northwest residents relying on Medicare as their Health Insurance option is the reason for a new North Spokane clinic.The clinic is part of the Rockwood Health System who owns many other clinics thru-out the Spokane area as well as the Deconness Hospital in Spokane and Valley Hospital in Spokane Valley. The Rockwood Medicare Clinic opened last week in with the new Rockwood Senior Health Center. The new clinic serves as a kind of intake center for medicare patients into the Rockwood Health system. The new clinic is located at 6208 N Colton St in North Spokane and for more info on this new business contact Rockwood directly at - 509-342-3430

Geiger Correctional Facility to close

Inland Northwest Business Watch has learned that Spokane County will close their Geiger Correctional Facility which is located at 3507 S. Spotted Rd. near Spokane International Airport on the West Plains. The county plans to move inmates out of Geiger to facilities in other counties jails to help balance Spokane Counties budget. The Geiger Correctional Facility has been an issue over the last few years largely due to the age of the jail. The jail was originally built as military barracks and hasn't been sufficiently upgraded due to budget cuts,etc... . Geiger as of today employs about 80 and the status of those jobs is vague but some may end up at the Spokane County Jail in Spokane.There is also no timeline in place for closure so please stay tuned for more as I get it.

Varsitycda.com launches

Local and former Lewiston Tribune Sports reporter, Ryan Collingwood has started a new business in Coeur d Alene.The business is a local High School and College level sports website called Varsitycda.com .The new website features blog like write ups on basicly all sports going on in the Coeur d' Alene area as well athletes news and info and even some podcasts and videos to download on top of the usual highlights and Coeur d' Alene area sports scores. Varsitycda.com will operate with a subscription based format offering annual memberships for 29.88 a year or monthly for only 4.99, and if you don't feel the need to subscribe, individual stories can be purchased for only 75 cents each .Varsitycda.com isn't just for schools in Coeur d' Alene but all of Kootenai County including Lakeland High School, Post Falls High School and Timberlake High School.
For more on the new Varsitycda.com visit their website at - www.varsitycda.com or like them on facebook at www.facebook.com/varsitycda

Looking for a job? WSP is hiring

Are a Spokane resident that's like many these days out looking for a new job? Then this may be right up your alley.The Washington State Highway Patrol is hiring and needs to hire 60 new state policemen to patrol are highways and byways and will be offering testing here in Spokane. The testing will take place at the Washington State Patrol offices at 6403 W Rowland Rd on the West Plains and nearby Spokane International Airport .The testing at the Spokane Patrol Post will be at 8am on April 29th and 30th and on May 1st and 2nd .
 For more info on jobs with Washington State Patrol and how to apply visit - http://www.wsp.wa.gov/employment/trooper.htm

LOCAL Business News Apr. 19th 2012

In the Spokane area...

Spokane Acupuncture has opened their new clinic in Spokane Valley at 2312 N Cherry St.

Standard Plumbing is undergoing an expansion at their site which can be found at 10419 E. Trent Ave.

A new Mental Health Clinic is now open in Spokane.That clinic is Envision Intergrated Therapies and is located at 10015 N Division St.

The Spokane office of  Prefered Health Care Options has closed.

Seattle based construction company BN Builders has expanded to Spokane by opening a new office in Spokane Valley.The new BN Builders office is located at 15920 E. Indiana Ave. by Sullivan Rd.

Another new thrift store has opened in Spokane Valley.The new store is called Pop's New & Used Second Hand Store and is located at 321 Dishman Mica Rd. Suite B.

Affordable Optics , which is a small local chain of eye care centers has opened their 3rd location.The newese Affordable Optics is located at 12519 N Division in the Wandermere Wesr Shopping Center in North Spokane.

Lollipop Lemondrop has moved from Liberty Lake to 410 E. Holland Rd in Spokane. Lollipop Lemondrop is a retail store selling women's and children's clothing

In Coeur d' Alene and North Idaho...

Servpro has moved into a new bigger location in Hayden. Servpro which does disaster clean-up and many other clean-up services is located at 11442 N Carisa Ct.

Also in Hayden Studio S Dance Studio will soon become Northern Dance Academy .The school of dance will remain at the current location which is 1042 W. Hayden Ave.

Auto ID Specialties which is a Coeur d' Alene based firm that does automotive data collection and barcoding has moved into their new offices in Downtown Coeur d' Alene.Auto ID is now located in the professional offices above the Coeur d' Alene Resort Shops on Sherman Ave.

LOCAL Restaurant News Apr. 19th 2012

The peep in the Coeur d' Alene resturant community about Lepeep coming to Coeur d' Alene has been confirmed. Le Peep Resturant will open their first location in the Northwest in Coeur d' Alene later this year.Lepeep will open in space directly on the Spokane River in the Riverstone Development and on the ground floor of the Bellevere Condo Building by the Hampton Inn. LePeep is a breakfast resturant with locations thruout most of the midwest but also in North and South Carolina.We will keep you posted when we know an opening date,etc... For more info on Le Peep Resturants visit - www.lepeep.com

The Roberts Mansion in Spokane's Browne's Addition will open a new restaurant later this year as well.The new restaurant will also be in Browne's Addition at 1928 W. Pacific and will be called EJ's Garden Bistro .

A Spokane favorite  Iconic Burritos  has sadly closed but their resturant space at 1415 N Hamilton Ave won't be without diners for long as a 2nd location of Rusty Roofs Burgers and Shake Shack will open there soon. While Iconic has been consitantly voted best burritos in Spokane,Rusty Roof has won their far share of awards for their Burgers as well. Currently Rusty Roof is located in the Wandermere area of North Spokane on Hastings Rd.

The Italian Resturant T Prano's has closed. T Prano's had been in Spokane Valley at 15111 E. Sprague Ave.

Recall effort underway in Coeur d Alene

RecallCDA is a new not for profit volunteer based group that has offically opened their offices in Suite 21 of the Sunset Shopping Center (296 W. Sunset Ave Coeur d' Alene,across from Fred Meyer).But it's not the new office that creating waves in the Coeur d' Alene community this time. It's RecallCDA's intentions that are causing a lot of talk. RecallCDA is attempting to gather enough signatures on the their 4 petitions to recall Mayor Sandi Bloem ,and 3 city council members which include Deanna Goodlander,Mike Kennedy and Woody McEvers.But why would one want a Mayor and 3 city council members kicked out of their elected posts? Orginizers of the RecallCDA movement base the recall efforts on how these politicians voted on the controversal plan to revitilize McEuen Park in Downtown Coeur d Alene.
The McEuen Park project has been a hot topic in Coeur d' Alene for sometime but only in the last year or so has city council moved forward on the 14 million dollar park project which includes many changes which I will post on this blog in a later post. The plan has angered Coeur d' Alene residents Frank Ozell and Mary Souza enough to orginize this recall campaign,As the RecallCDA campaign sits today the group has turned in it's first petition which allows them to start to offical petitioning process so be on the lookout for RecallCDA around the city in the coming weeks and keep reading Inland Northwest Business Watch as I will post more on this as it progresses.

For info on RecallCDA visit - www.recallcda.com
For info on the movement against the recall visit- http://www.facebook.com/groups/396309863719993/


My personal opinion RecallCDA:
I have tried ever since starting this local business news web site to remain non-bias and report only as I the facts for you the INBW readers but I fell compelled by this attempted recall to add my thoughts.And I strongly urge Coeur d' Alene's residents to not sign RecallCDA petitions.The Mayor and City Council have proven they are pro-business and have brought jobs to Coeur d' Alene.On top of that Coeur d' Alene would not have The Kroc Center , The Downtown Library or the business friendly improvements done to Midtown and Downtown which prove that while no one will agree with these politicians on every vote they have done good for the community as a whole.In my opinion it is wrong to write off polticians based solely on one vote.I know McEuen Park has a special value to most Coeur d' Alene residents but why should we put so much focus on this issue when we have issues with Human Rights,Homelessness and keeping the jobs we have now, in our community.It's very sad to think of the devide this park has put in the community and I think that now is the time to put this behind us and move on and issueing a recall election is not the way to do that.

Company profile-Real Deals Home Decor Coeur d Alene

Today's Inland Northwest Business Watch Company Profile is of Real Deals on Home Decor. Real Deals is a unique Home Decor store located in Coeur d Alene at 625 W. Dalton Ave directly behind the Coeur d Alene Skate Plaza. Real Deals is only open 2 days a week so if your in the market for home decorations one better plan ahead but they note that deals are too good to be true. The Coeur d Alene store is open Thursdays 10a-6p and Saturday 10a-3p.

For more info on the Coeur d' Alene Real Deals on Home Decor visit their Facebook page-http://www.facebook.com/RealDealsCDA

If you'd like your small business mentioned on this blog e-mail at inlandbusiness@yahoo.com

LOCAL Business News:April 16th 2012

In the Spokane area...

Kathleen Fontana Insurance is now open in the their new location.The insurance agency has moved to 9708 N Nevada Ave in Spokane

Enduris Washington has also opened in their new home which is an brand new office building called the Enduris Professional Centre and located at 1610 S. Technology Blvd on the West Plains.

Tacoma Screw Products will build a new Spokane location.The new Tacoma Screw building will be about 10,000 sq feet and be located at the corner of 3rd and Howe in Spokane Valley.

The Barkin' Lot Doggy Day Care is now open in Spokane.The dog day care service is located at 2114 N Division.

Look for construction on a new townhome development coming up near by the I-90/ State Route 902 Interchange on the West Plains.This new development will be called Takoda Park West.


In Coeur d' Alene and the rest of North Idaho...

Things are changing in Post Falls around the Seltice and Spokane St. intersection with the move I reported on earlyer of  Tready Rock Realty moving into new space at 205 W. Seltice.Now next door to the real estate office is new thrift store Busy Bee's Thrift Store and More. The new thrift store will also have a selection of antiques and collectables.

In the same strip mall as the new Thrift Store American Family Insurance has now closed.

And across Seltice Way from that fore-mentioned strip mall the Post Falls Car Quest Auto Parts has also now closed.

Call of The Wild Tattoo is moving from their tattoo parlor in Rathdrum to 180 W. Neider in Coeur d Alene across the street from Costco

Know of a business that's opening,moving or expanding? Click on "submit a business tip" on the top of this page or e-mail me at inlandbusiness@yahoo.com .Also if your a business owner you can promote your business on the Inland Northwest Business Watch Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch

Spokane's Measure 1

This Tuesday April 17th the 266,100 registered voters in Spokane County will vote in a special election.In this special election only 1 county wide issue will appear on the ballot,but that issue would launch another major construction project for Spokane that has the potential to bring in new jobs and new events to the facilities of the Spokane Public Facilities District. The district is asking voters under measure 1 to extend the current tax levels they receive from sales tax and the hotel/motel tax for another 10 years to help pay for 2 major projects which in turn will allow the Public Facilities District to be more competitive for shows,concerts and conventions against cities like Seattle.

The first project would be to "finish the Spokane Convention Center". A few years back the Convention Center underwent a major expansion but due to funding at the time of construction the entire project was never fully built out.This phase of the expansion would include more meeting space to bring more meetings to Spokane as well an addition to the exhibit hall space.The Convention Center work would also highlight the Spokane River and include upgrades to the Centennial Trail which is much needed as one of the busiest stretches of the trail is the portion that goes right behind the Convention Center and The INB Performing Arts Center .

The second project would be to add 700 new seats to the Spokane Arena.The new seats would go on the upper levels of the Arena in space that is blocked off and was also not completed at the time of the last expansion.The Spokane Public Facilities District claims the additional seating will help attract new and bigger performers to the Arena but also secures that Spokane will remain illegible to host future NCAA championship games since the NCAA has declared Spokane Arena to be insufficient for the needs of their Championship Games.

For Election Results on April 17th and after please visit http://vote.wa.gov/results/current/spokane/

Center Partners closes Post Falls Call Center

After 10 years in business taking customer service and sales calls for T-Mobile the Post Falls call center site for Center Partners has now closed and is up for lease . Fort Collins,Co. based Center Partners closed the center primarily because they say keeping the lease on the office building is no longer economicly viable and the move does not cut any jobs but may limit some of Center Partners hiring ability as the about 450 workers that had been working out of the Post Falls site have all been transfered into 2 of Center Partners other 3 call centers in the Inland Northwest. The Post Falls center had been located on S. Clearwater Lp in the Riversbend Commerce Park next door to the LCF Amps factory. Center Partners also intends to keep all their other local sites open and as they point out they will still employ about 1,000 in the local area maintaing their presence as one of the largest employers in the Spokane/Coeur d' Alene area. Center Partners other call centers are located in Coeur d' Alene(on Ironwood near the IRS office),Hayden (In the business park at Hwy 95 and Prarie Ave) and in Liberty Lake (Off of Mission Ave near the STCU Headquarters).For more info on the work of Center Partners and jobs with them please visit- www.centerpartners.com

Real Life Ministries Coeur d' Alene Campus now open

In 1998 Real Life Ministries began by hosting church services in the now closed Post Falls Theater .And obviously Real Life has done something right by continuously growing, adding membership and adding to their service times ever since.Today the Post Falls based Real Life Ministries operates their large campus on Cecil Rd. in between Post Falls High School and Wal-Mart,as well as church campuses in in Spokane Valley,Newport,Pinehurst,Spokane and a Palouse regional campus in Moscow.
And now Real Life has expanded yet again with Easter Sunday being the official grand opening of Real Life Ministries Coeur d Alene Campus. The new Coeur d' Alene Real Life Campus is now meeting in the church building at 610 N 4th St. which last housed the First Christian Church as well as new office in the office building at the corner of 5th and Lakeside in Downtown Coeur d' Alene by the North Idaho College Adult Education Center. The new Coeur d' Alene campus on N 4th St can house up to 200 people at a time and offers 3 church services every Sunday.

Best of Broadway Spokane and Northern Quest Casino proformances anounced

While it's not exactly business news both West Coast Entertaiment and Northern Quest Casino have formally annouced their summer proformances and concerts for the summer of 2012.Each are jam packed with Broadway Plays and big concerts sure to bring in people to the Spokane area and hopfully pump some more funds into the local economy.

Here is the Spokane Best of Broadway schedule-
Jersey Boys                October 17- November 3, 2012
Rock of Ages              February 7-10, 2013
War Horse                   March 5-9, 2013
West Side Story          March 21-24, 2013
Flashdance                 April 11-14, 2013
For more info on tickets and specific show times visit www.bestofbroadwayspokane.com

Northern Quest Casino's Pepsi Summer Concert Series schedule-
John Fogerty
Ringo Starr
Earth, Wind & Fire
Journey, Pat Benatar & Loverboy
Darius Rucker
Sugarland
Heart
For info on dates,times and ticket info for the Northern Quest Casino concerts visit-
http://northernquest.com/pepsi-summer-concerts

LOCAL Business News-Apr. 10th 2012

In the Spokane area....

Mark Webb Jewelers has moved from their store by The Y to a new store at 604 N Freya St.

Adding to the store changes in the area around the Spokane Valley Mall is Complete Nutrtion. Complete Nutrtion is now open in a new small strip mall on Indiana Ave directly next to Carpet One. Complete Nutrtion is a suppliment and sports medicine retailer.

If you watch TV much during the daytime you'll notice the next new Spokane area business.Frontier Institute has expanded their Spokane market presence and has moved into the Jefferson 400 office building at 400 S Jefferson. Frontier Institute is a drug research company.

Also opening soon near Gonzaga University in the 829 W Boone plaza will be a new Froyo Earth frozen yogurt shop.

As was mentioned in the post about the Meadowwood Technolgy Park,Seasons Cafe is now open as the food vendor inside the newer office campus on Mission Ave in Liberty Lake.Seasons Cafe is open to the public and is open for both lunch and dinner.

Also now open in the Meadowwood is the coffee stand, The Dark Side Espresso.

Empire Roof Coatings is now open is Spokane Valley.

Revita Rehab has graduated from the business incubator space and is opening 2 new Spokane clinics.The Revita Rehab locations will be at 203 E. Dalke in Spokane and 1421 N Mullan in Spokane Valley.

Now open at The Y in North Spokane is the latest location of Peice of Mind Culture Shop. Peice of Mind's new store can be found on 395 in strip mall less then a block north of The Y.

Zaki Organics which is an organic skin care product company is on the move.Zaki will move in with The Strut Streetside Boutique in Downtown Millwood.The boutique is located at 9003 E. Euclid suite B

And in the Coeur d' Alene/Post Falls area...

A new Coeur d' Alene based online radio station is now on the air,Potato Radio plays world and jazz music and has an office in Coeur d' Alene at 2775 N Howard St. Suite 11.

As You R Fish and Chips,Burgers and More and More is a new restuaunt now open in Spirit Lake. They are located at 31945 W 5th nearby Miller's Store.

Coeur d Alene's Harmony Yarn  store has a new owner and a new name,The yarn store is now Knit-n-Crochet and is still located in the strip mall at 600 W. Kathleen by the Coeur d' Alene Fred Meyer.

Daisy J's in the Coeur d Alene Resort Plaza Shops is moving to space farther inside the small downtown shopping center.Daisy J's will now found in the former Concept Kid's space and the space they had been in will be the new home of  Figpickel's Toy Store which is moving  there from about a block east of the shops.

Meadowwood Technology Park coming together

It wasn't very long ago that if one we're to arrive at the large building found at 24001 E. Mission Ave by the intersection with N. Molter Rd. in Liberty Lake one would find a large factory called Agilent Technologies. Agilent was a company that had been a part of the Liberty Lake community for many years making computer circuit boards. But as was the course with many companies in our new economy Agilent Technologies closed leaving about 100 people without jobs and a large building vacant.
Luckily the building at 24001 E. Mission didn't stay vacant long with Liberty Lake based development company, Greenstone Homes stepping in to save the day.Today Greenstone Homes owns this large building and the surrounding campus. Greenstone has done extensive work on the site to bring in new office space and once complete more jobs then Agilent had employed in 2010. Greenstone has renamed the site Meadowwood Technology Campus and now offers class a office space in this prime Liberty Lake space.
Greenstone Home's commercial division sales people have obviously done their job in making the new Meadowwood Technology Park a huge success because with Greenstone's hard work many new tenants have already moved into space at Meadowwood and one more coming soon.Among those new tenants at the Meadowwood Technolgy Park are...

Mountain Dog Sign Company 
Providence Health (Note: Providence Health is currently remodeling a large space in Meadowwood to move a processing office in later this year.This move will create many new jobs and was covered on this blog earlyer,search for Providence Health in the upper right hand corner of this page)
Design Source Solutions
Petra Wireless
Greenstone Commercial
Liberty Mutual Insurance


And on-site food and espresso vendors which are open to the community...
Seasons Cafe
The Dark Side Espresso


For more info on the Meadowwood Technolgy Park and the remaining class a office space still for lease visit
http://www.mwtechcampus.com

Resturant news:Apr. 6th 2012

Beer is becoming big business in the Spokane and Coeur d Alene area and a new brewery will join that growing industry in the early summer months.Trickster's Brewing is a new craft brewery opening at 3850 N Schrieber Way in Coeur d Alene (in the Coeur d Alene Commerce Park off of Kathleen Ave.). Trickster's will have an on-site tap room,more on this when it gets closer to the opening date.

Recently I wrote that a permit might have been issued for Noddles & Company in Spokane.I was a little incorrect however Noddle Works is coming.The new Spokane location of Noddle Works will be in the new 829 E. Boone strip mall.

Coeur d Alene's Porky G's BBQ which is a member of the Kansas City BBQ Society is opening a new second location.The BBQ restaurant will be near the intersection on Sprague and Sullivan in Spokane Valley which was formerly and A&W restaurant.

Another new food truck has joined Spokane's growing food truck scene,This new food truck is called Classic Crusin' Cuisine .


Spokane Valley Restaurant and banquet facility The Luxury Box is closed.The Luxury Box had been in the U-City shopping center on Sprague near University Ave. 

Fairchild AFB's new fitness center

The new state of the art fitness facility on base at Fairchild Air Force Base near Airway Heights is now open. The new fitness facility was deemed necessarily as the former center was severely damaged in a snow storm 3 years ago causing the base to put only a temporary fix on the old smaller gym roof until this new replacement fitness center could be completed. The new Fairchild fitness center features the usual weights and work out machines but also has a basketball and volleyball courts,an indoor track, a swimming pool and racquetball rooms .The fitness center will be used by the troops/ families living on base as well for Fairchild AFB's Survival School.

Kootenai County exploring new Downtown Parking Garage.

It's no secret that the parking spots around the Kootenai County Courthouse and Administration Buildings can be hard to come by. The parking situation can get even worse in the morning hours when the Courts do their jury selections in the Justice Building. These parking issues have prompted the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners to explore building a new parking garage to replace the exsisting surface parking lots on the County Campus inbetween Northwest Blvd and Government Way in Downtown Coeur d Alene. The new parking garage if built would go in along Northwest Blvd. The garage is still in the design phase but the plan as it stands right now is to build a 7 story parking structure which would hold 518 parking spaces.
  The Commissioners are also now looking into how pedstrian traffic would flow in and out of the new garage which might also require a skywalk over Northwest Blvd for foot traffic heading into Downtown Coeur d Alene. The County does not want to just build and use this new parking garage itself as the Board of Commissioners has asked the City of Coeur d' Alene and their Urban Renewal Agency(Lake City Development Corp.) for assitance in paying for the project and in return allow the city to use some of the garage for additional Downtown parking which can always be needed. The counties plan states the new parking gargage would cost about 7.8 million dollars to build and no construction start date as of yet as funding is still the key issue.
  This project is sure to become a hot button issue with elections just around the corner,If you have an opinion on this issue,Please share it on the Inland Northwest Business Watch Facebook page at-
http://www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch

Spokane Valley Mall changes

Watch for 4 changes in Spokane Valley Mall this April...

Aveda  product retailer Natural Rejuvenation is re-branding with a new name.The business will now be called  Axis Salon & Spa .

Clothing retailer Vivo is moving into a new bigger space.The new Valley Mall Vivo store will be upstairs next to the Champs Sports shoe store.

And... Victoria's Secret is remodeling their mall store, while the remodeling is underway the Victoria's Secret store will be in a temporary location on the second floor.

Down East Basics has moved to the first floor near Sears.

Gonzaga to build new student center

This spring Gonzaga University will break ground on a major new on campus project.Gonzaga will build a new student center with additional space for a few retail stores.The new student center will replace the cog and will be about 250,000 sq feet total and costing Gonzaga about 14 million dollars.The center will be in the Hamilton and Cincinnati St area.The new building is right now scheduled to open in Jan. 2013 with the Gonzaga University Bookstore and a new parking structure with 650 parking spaces and common/meeting areas.The leased out retail spaces will open sometime soon after the center's opening on the 1st floor.This project is the first construction project the school has under taken since 2009 and is needed to replace the existing center which is much smaller then this proposed student center,More to come as time goes by i'm sure....

Here is a photo of the proposed new Gonzaga student center....

New projects = New jobs in Post Falls

Post Falls has struggled just like every other city in today's economy but a few projects and new factories moving into Post Falls could be a hopeful sign of things to come...

The first project creating jobs and better life for Post Falls is the large new Underground Force factory going up on Seltice Way near the intersection on Commerce Way on the the east end of Post Falls. Underground Force will make underground mining equipment and is a branch off of Ground Force Manufacturing whose own factory is doing well directly across Seltice Way .While the Underground Force factory appears to be a while from opening,the job openings at Underground Force are now open. Underground Force will employ about 200 employees in their new 85,000 sq foot building,to apply for one of those jobs contact the office of parent company Ground Force in person.

The site next to Blue Dog RV on Seltice Way just east of Chase Rd in Post Falls has been busy with activity in the last couple of weeks as Blue Dog is building a second new RV service building to their rapidly expanding RV dealership.For info on jobs with Blue Dog RV who at this time is hiring for all positions contact Blue Dog RV on their website www.bluedogrv.com

I know only a little of it but Post Falls's Raycap Manufacturing which is a surge protector manufacturer and has operated under the name AC Data Systems is planning an expansion here in Post Falls.Raycap has already been issued building permits in the amount of 700,000 dollars to expand their facility at 806 S. Clearwater Loop in the Riversbend Commerce Park.No info on how many new jobs this would bring to Post Falls but I'll keep a close eye on this construction project and let you know as soon as I know.

Powerhandling Inc. which is company from Spokane has leased about 45,000 sq feet of space in Post Falls also and intends to move some of their production to Post Falls from their North Spokane factory.Powerhandling Inc. manufactures hand operated equipment that allows workers to move coils.The new Post Falls Powerhandling factory will be located in the long empty space at 1420 E 3rd St on the South end of Post Falls,No official word on how many jobs this move creates but surely it will be some.

Things are defiantly looking up not only for Post Falls but the entire Inland Northwest with these projects,the new West Plains Caterpillar plant,another rumored plant near Spokane International Airport and much much more.

For more on these projects and other project bringing jobs to the Inland Northwest watch the Inland Northwest Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch
Or follow Inland Northwest Business Watch on Twitter we are @inwbusiness

Pints Ale House is open!

After a lot of work and several ad's ran weekly in the Inlander to garner up interest in the Spokane area,I can now say that Pints Ale House is now officially open. Pints Ale House is located in North Spokane at 10111 N Newport Hwy. and they offer a large beer selection which includes Spokane's own 12 String Brewing Co. as well as special and unique beers,in fact in all Pints Alehouse has 18 beers on tap. On top of that Pints also offers a happy hour on Monday-Friday from 4-6pm .

Local business news:Mar. 2nd 2012

In the Spokane area....

A new Quizno's Subs location is coming soon near Gonzaga by where the Chipolte Mexican Grill will be later this year on Ruby about 1 block south of The Kennedy Apartments.

Chan Bistro opened in December in Spokane Valley,The new Asian restaurant is located at 1409 N Argonne Rd by Safeway.

April 18th will be the grand opening of the new Mavrick gas station in Cheney.The new Mavrick station is the second location for the gas station chain in the Spokane market,the other opened in Mead only a couple of months ago.The Cheney Mavrick station is located at 2827 1st St.

The changes continue over at Clear Channel Spokane as Progressive Talk formatted station 1280 KPTQ has been switched over to a classic country format and with the name 1280 Classic Country.The move comes at the same time as Kix 96 has switched to a top-40 with the name Hits 96 FM.

Opportunity Medical has moved into 3700 sq feet of the newish River View Corporate Center at 16201 E. Indiana Ave. in Spokane Valley.The medical office is moving from 1414 N Vercler .


Glass Instincts and Lord Ford Wear is opening their first store front soon on Nevada near Wellesley in Spokane.

Watch for a new bar opening soon in Downtown Spokane,The bar is called Shots and will open soon below the A Club at 412 Sprague Ave.

Que Sera Interior Design is a new interior design store open at 6716 N Pittsburg St in Spokane.

In North Idaho and Coeur d Alene...

Sadly after reporting that Retro Spot Espresso opened on Government way just south of the Silver Lake Mall the coffee drive up is now closed.

The new Northern Lakes Fire District fire station in Rathdrum is done and now in service.

Speaking of coffee shops...The Cream & Sugar coffee shop is now open at 800 Bank St in Wallace.

Taryn Thompson Photography is now doing photography work with an office in Twin Lakes.

Tready Rock Realty has relocated to smaller space.Tready Rock had been in the small plaza next to Domino's Pizza in the 100 block of W. Seltice.The real estate office is now in the plaza at 205 W. Seltice on the end unit near Cricket Wireless.