The downtown business beat continues producing more real estate deals.

In Friday's paper was the announcement two groups bought the side-by-side buildings formerly called the Sherwood Mall. In fact, the buildings were built in different eras, and are probably best managed as two different structures.

The smaller building is the corner building once known as the home of First National Bank. It's at the corner of Riverside and Stevens.

That building was acquired by an investors group that includes Spokane Chiefs and Spokane Indians owner Bobby Brett, and area developer Chris Batten.

Brett is general manager of 1953 Box LLC, the company owning the corner building … and the name refers to the year this building went up, in 1953. The earlier building that sat there was not two stories. We'll go hunting for the historic photo of that bank that later was torn down.

The plan is to rebrand the building as the Numerica Building, and Numerica Credit Union will take most of the main floor. The rendering here, provided by nystrom + olson archiecture, shows  the exterior of the building after remodeling.

The  “real” Sherwood building, at 510 W. Riverside,was purchased by an LLC called Sure Would, whose principal is  Tom Clemson, the president of Inland Group.

Here's a lesson in market timing. Sterling Financial, which bought the two buildings back in the 1970s, sold them in 2007 to a North Idaho doctors' group, for $3.7 million.

This past month, Clemson's group paid $800,000 for the eight-story building, while Box 1953 LLC paid $500,000 for the corner building. Certainly both properties will take some major renovation. But those are decent deals for good downtown real estate.

In 2010 the properties were assessed at $2.7 million together.

If you haven't had a chance to visit the renovated McKinstry Spokane & Inland Empire Railroad building, you ought to find the time.

The company, with headquarters in Seattle, has a corps of about 100 workers in the Spokane area. Last fall it finished a $20 million renovation of the former electric railway maintenance and repair depot, on Spokane Falls Blvd. east of downtown and across from Gonzaga University.

Today's story on the business pages highlighted plans by McKinstry to set aside about 38,000 square feet of the building for an innovation center. The center will open its doors in August, and become a gathering spot-incubator for companies that are looking to accelerate their growth.

At least four companies will move in, come August, said McKinstry VP Tony Stewart. He projected about two dozen tenant companies will eventually fill up the innovation center.

A large portion of the McKinstry building is designed for open space — which is not easy to illustrate, given the unusual configuration of the building. We ran a story last year on the building, with a video, and those images still didn't capture the appealing and deceptively welcoming nature of the interior design.

Spokane's downtown Restoration Hardware closes its doors at the end of business on April 16.

Its location, at 714 W. Main, will be taken by outdoor outfitter North Face. North Face isn't expected to open its store until this summer, said a news release from River Park Square, the property owner.

River Park Square is an affiliate of Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

Outdoor clothing and gear outfitter North Face will open a store at Spokane's downtown River Park Square this fall.  

North Face will move into 714 W. Main, now occupied by Restoration Hardware.  Construction will begin in May with an opening projected for late summer or early fall opening.

The store will feature an indoor climbing wall, said a press release. This will be the first North Face outlet in Spokane.  Restoration Hardware officials said on Thursday they could not comment on whether they will relocate the Spokane store.

River Park Square is owned and operated by the Cowles Co. The Cowles Co. also operates The Spokesman-Review and Spokesman.com