Handle on Business: INB to open in Hayden, Spirit Lake

Once-rural vacant parcels gradually sprout buildings as Kootenai County continues to grow. One prime piece that had an “available” sign on it for quite a while now has a “Future Home of Inland Northwest Bank” sign.

That’s in the southwest corner of Prairie Avenue at Government Way in Hayden. Construction should begin in March, and the 3,200-square-foot bank should open in September. The full-service facility will have four teller stations, three stand-up and one sit-down, and three drive-throughs, one for combined teller and ATM service. It will start with five employees.

That’s not all. INB will build a new bank in Spirit Lake. Not only will it be a new bank, it will be the town’s only bona fide bank. Spirit Lake has a few ATMs, but the INB plan for a block south of Miller’s Food City will be the first bank since the Bank of Spirit Lake closed long ago. It started in 1907 at Fourth and Maine, but the vault remains in the office of a physical therapist. (In Spirit Lake, the main east-west street is called Maine. Several other streets have state names, but there’s not 50 of them.)

This branch, the 13th in the INB system, will be 2,300 square feet with three teller stations, two stand-up and one sit-down, and two drive-throughs, one a combined teller and ATM. It will start with four employees.

“We’ll post the jobs internally for both banks, and we’ll advertise also,” said Randall Fewel, CEO and president.

INB started in Spokane in 1989 and spread to Idaho in 1995. Now with branches in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene, it has 105 employees.

“We were one of the first state-chartered banks in the country to cross state lines,” Fewel said. “Our strengths are loans to small businesses and home mortgages.”

New buffet place

Expanded options are offered at the new I.T. National Buffet restaurant that opened last week in the north end corridor of Silver Lake Mall.

Among the 90 items offered at seven buffet tables are steak and crab legs at dinner and a Mongolian and American (burgers and steaks) grill barbecue. Regular beverages are free to dine-in customers, and wine and beer are available. Prices are lower for people 65 and older and children 10 and under.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays; dinner starts at 4. Phone: (208) 762-4787.

Blue Water Tech moves

Growing from four to 14 employees in three years, Blue Water Technologies has moved into the 20,000-square-foot former U.S. Products building at 10450 Airport Drive, at Miles Avenue, in Hayden.

Still with its research facility near the Hayden sewer plant off Atlas Road, the company works with technology developed at the University of Idaho for cleansing water, primarily removing phosphorus, before it returns to the ground. Tom Daugherty is president of the investor-backed company.

Tidbits

“The As Seen on TV store at 6680 Government Way has closed.

“Best Foods convenience store on Best Avenue at Honeysuckle in Coeur d’Alene has opened.

“I’ll never complain about a smoke detector whistling again. At 4 a.m. Tuesday a close relative in Seattle was wakened by the smoke alarm, and the living room was on fire from a heater problem. They safely escaped the apartment from their bedroom windows. They’re temporarily homeless and without most of their stuff, but the Red Cross is a major help. Sometimes a person becomes more religious.