Carnegie library will be hotel company’s headquarters

Magnuson Hotels will move into its new Spokane headquarters in the former Carnegie library at 525 E. Mission Ave. today.

The company, which had offices in the Northpointe Office Center, bought the building earlier this year for $550,000.

Company co-Chief Executive Officer Melissa Magnuson said general contractor Frank Gowdy, of Kearsley Construction Inc. has remodeled the interior, opening up some spaces that had been divided into smaller rooms.

The original fir floors have been restored, and some of the bookcases will be restocked with business books that can be checked out by employees. A storyteller bench at the east entrance has also been preserved, she said.

A new walkway and landscaping are the only changes to the 1913 structure, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

“We’ve really tried to retain the original character of the building,” Magnuson said.

The architect is Armando Hurtado, of Nystrom Olson Collins Inc.

Work starts on apartments

Construction has begun on a 180-unit apartment building north of Spokane along U.S. Highway 395.

The project, costing more than $14 million, will bring market-rate housing to the growing area next year, said Spokane attorney Terry Snow, manager of the development, called The Ridge at Midway.

The seven-building apartment complex is being built on eight acres on the south side of North Hatch Road, just east of North Wandermere Road. The land, along with 28 acres on the north side of Hatch Road, is owned by the Cordill Family Trust.

For years the family has wanted to develop a retail and office center on the 28-acre site, and those plans might get going soon, said Snow, the trustee and a relative of the family. The family envisions a grocery store anchoring the development, which also could include restaurants, a gas station and professional offices, among other tenants. It would serve the Gleneden, Blackhawk and Wellington housing developments and neighboring suburbs.

The project would be helped by completion in 2011 of the north leg of the North Spokane Corridor, a freeway that will connect Interstate 90 to U.S. Highway 395 about two miles south of Hatch Road.

The apartment complex will include a recreation building and outdoor swimming pool. The recreation center and the first apartment building are scheduled to open early next April, with another block of apartments set to open every four weeks through the spring and summer, Snow said.

Apartments will include one, two and three bedrooms. Rent will range from $700 to $1,100 a month, Snow said.

“It will be a first-class place – that is our intention,” he said.

Inland Group, based in Spokane Valley, is the general contractor. Reid Dickinson is project manager. Between 150 and 200 workers will be employed on the project.

Social Security office moving

The Spokane Social Security office will move to 714 N. Iron Bridge Way, Suite 100, in the Iron Bridge complex on Trent Avenue just east of the Spokane River.

The agency will open in the new location Oct. 19. The old office at 811 E. Sprague Ave. will close next Friday.

Iron Bridge developer Kent Hull said the Social Security office and the Spokane Regional Sports Commission will occupy all but 2,500 square feet of the 42,000-square-foot building, the third building to be completed on the nine-acre site.

Future plans call for nearly identical four-story buildings by the old Spokane River railroad bridge that gave the complex its name, Hull said.

Plans for the fourth building remain incomplete while Hull decides what changes might be made to qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Construction could start in the spring, he said.

A second parking structure may be necessary, depending on the fifth building’s size, Hull said, adding that the site could accommodate a small sixth building on a cul-de-sac off North Erie Street.

Hull said the complex has benefited from its proximity to the University District. Financing has not been an issue because of the stability of his tenants, which include State Farm Insurance and PAML, a Spokane-based medical laboratory company, he said.

Business park adds new tenants

Two companies have leased buildings at the Spokane Business & Industrial Park, 3012 N. Sullivan Road.

Welding and fabrication company Totally Polished is using 1,250 square feet in Building S-5.

Crux Subsurface Inc. has leased 5,000 square feet in Building S-21. Crux uses another industrial park building for its main office.

The Spokane Valley-based company provides geotechnical exploration and construction. It digs holes and provides support for engineering design firms. It also installs ground support systems and other facilities for the power line industry.