Women get fit; needy get food
Women at the Curves on Mullen Road recently donated more than a ton of groceries to the Spokane Valley Food Bank.
Some 2,160 pounds of food were amassed over a month, forming a significant pile in the center of the circuit training area, said Patty Burkhardt, owner of the women’s fitness facility. Although members were good sports about exercising around the pile of food, some goodies were hidden for the sake of ladies who were trying to lose weight.
“For a month they looked at this food. We had to hide the cookies and sweets. Any chocolate that came in had to be hidden,” Burkhardt said.
Curves waived sign-up fees for new members who brought in bags of groceries and the group also raised $119 in cash.
Eagle Home Mortgage ventures into area
Before September, Eagle Home Mortgage had never ventured into Eastern Washington. That’s all changed with the opening of a location at Pines Road and Mirabeau Parkway and locations in Coeur d’Alene and north Spokane that are only days away from opening.
The branch on Mirabeau Parkway officially opened for business Sept. 15, said branch manager Susan Sprecher. “Everybody over on the coast has heard of Eagle Home Mortgage,” she said.
The company, now based in Bellevue, was started by a California couple in 1984 and sold in 1999 to Lennar Homes, a construction company. Lennar Homes is a Fortune 300 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Sprecher said.
“We are both a banker and broker,” she said. “We do purchase and refinance and second mortgage and even commercial.”
House sales have been hot in the region and that combined with the building boom drew the mortgage company to the Spokane area. “We have deep pockets,” she said. “There’s no debt. They’re just very aggressively growing.”
“It’s a time for growth,” said regional manager Dan Anderson. Business has grown steadily at the Valley branch since it opened.
The Spokane Valley branch has 11 new employees. Five people will staff the Coeur d’Alene office at 1620 Northwest Blvd. and seven will be employed at the north Spokane location, 9921 N. Nevada St. “These are all mortgage professionals from the local market,” Anderson said.
Valley Fire sells property
Freedom Financial LLC has purchased a piece of property from Valley Fire Department.
Bob Thomson of Freedom Financial said the real estate note investment company will make updates to the existing house at 12006 E. Mission Ave. and use it for office space.
The property was purchased two years ago by Valley Fire as a potential site for a medic house, said assistant chief Dave Lobdell. It was one of two home purchases designed to improve response times. While the property at 16th Avenue and Bowdish Road serves as a medic house, the East Mission location became unnecessary after the new fire station was built.
“We were able instead of developing the house on Mission to build another station on the other side of the freeway,” Lobdell said.