The Spokane County Building Department has granted building permits to developers for a new engineering and physics building on the Whitworth University campus at 300 W. Hawthorne Road.
According to a press release, the building will be called the PACCAR Engineering Building, named after the Washington-based truck manufacturer that financed part of the estimated $20 million construction cost.
According to a permit application, the building will be two stories high and have a total area of over 1,858 square meters.
The building will accommodate two research and design labs, a computer lab, classrooms and modern equipment such as 3D printers and laser cutting machines, a press release said.
Kamesh Sankaran, chairman of the Department of Engineering and Physics at Whitworth University, praised the building’s design in a statement.
“This facility will enable our students to collaborate with peers and faculty to push the boundaries of our knowledge and develop engineering solutions to real-world problems,” said Sankaran. “We are excited to fulfill Whitworth’s mission in this new sector in a new era of the university’s history.”
The contractor is Bouten Construction of Spokane, and the designer of the project is Integrus Architecture of Spokane. According to a press release, construction is estimated to take 18 months.
Hillyard residential project
Developers plan to add three buildings to a small residential property in the Hillyard neighborhood.
The owners of the property at 3018 E. Sanson Ave. first filed development plans in June that called for a different project, but the building permit application was withdrawn, according to city records.
Original plans indicated that developers planned to demolish the single-family home on the property to make way for a three-story, 10-unit building. The project, which would include a 10-space underground parking garage, was estimated to cost $2.5 million, according to city records.
But the latest plans, filed Tuesday, show a different project, estimated to cost $1 million. Rather than demolish it, the 700-square-foot house will remain on the property. A 320-square-foot addition will be attached to the house to create a “master suite,” according to the plans.
Three additional buildings will be constructed on the 0.15-acre site. Each new building will be two stories high and total 1,200 square meters. The construction will leave very little empty space on the site.
According to the plans, no off-street parking is planned.
The project will likely be made possible by the adoption of the new regulation on the parcelling of unit plots.
According to county records, the property was purchased in July of last year by Guillermo Garcia Alvarez and Zoraida Lizeht Barajas. Neither owner could immediately be reached Wednesday morning.
Gas station planned in West Spokane
Developers plan to build a gas station and supermarket at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Government Way, city documents show.
The project is planned for a 4,000-square-foot vacant lot at 2918 W. Eighth Ave. According to plans filed with the city, the site will house 10 gas stations, each of which will be covered by a roof.
The supermarket will be two stories high and have a total area of 930 square meters.
According to city records, the estimated construction cost is $1.5 million.
The property is owned by Donald (Gib) Brumback, founder of Brumback Inc., a property management, development and construction company based in Spokane.
