Construction of Avista parking garage to begin

Avista will begin construction of a five-story parking garage with 500 stalls near its Mission Avenue headquarters, according to city permit data.

The 171,000-square-foot structure is valued at $11.6 million and will be more than 60 feet tall. The garage has been planned for years, and is part of a larger plan to restructure the campus.

The parking structure will be built on an existing lot due north of the landmark 1959 Washington Water Power building.

Work on the garage was anticipated to begin in spring 2018, but was delayed.

In October 2017, the utility began construction of a $3.1 million fleet service building, also on site at its main campus.

The two-story, 29,600-square-foot building was built just west of the intersection of Upriver Drive and Indiana Avenue at the utility’s headquarters. The concrete, steel-framed building will include a conference room, car-washing facilities and a maintenance garage for minor repairs and issues, such as changing oil, antifreeze and hydraulics.

The parking garage’s general contractor is Bouten Construction, of Spokane. Wolfe Architectural Group, of Spokane, designed the structure, and DCI Engineers, of Spokane, did the structural engineering.