Work under way on Enduris Washington’s new home

The first phase of work on the new Enduris Washington building is under way near Airway Heights. The 25,000-square-foot office building, at 1610 S. Technology Blvd., will cost about $4 million.

Enduris Washington is a government entity that serves as the risk-financing and claims-management body for a number of government agencies and public districts. It used to go by the name Washington Governmental Entity Pool but switched to Enduris Washington in 2008.

Enduris has its current office at 5709 W. Sunset Highway. It expects to move in late December.

Meridian Construction of Spokane is the project general contractor. Meridian President Mark D’Agostino said the project involves more than 25 subcontractors.

Construction was delayed because of the wet spring. “We thought it would be done earlier but it’s been slowed down by conditions (on the West Plains),” D’Agostino said.

Enduris will occupy about 65 percent of the building, and a portion will remain unfinished and available for lease.

Weldon to shut downtown shop

Weldon Barbers is closing its downtown Spokane shop at 707 W. Main Ave. The projected closing date is June 18.

The Spokane-based company has three other area locations and recently opened a shop in downtown Seattle, joining three other Weldon Barbers sites in the Seattle area.

Company spokeswoman Dana Ward said the leased downtown Spokane shop was too large. “Our ideal store size is around 1,500 square feet. The one downtown was gigantic” at 3,700 square feet, Ward said.

All its downtown workers will relocate to other shops, she said.

School sports projects starting

Spokane Public Schools will begin overhauling running tracks and other outdoor facilities at Shadle Park and Rogers high schools. It also will start design plans for a multiyear project to do the same at Ferris High School, director of capital projects Greg Brown said.

The $1.8 million project at Shadle will install a new track with a football/soccer field in the infield, he said. A new concession stand will be added.

The work will complete $3 million of improvements that began last year with construction of new softball fields, tennis courts, a practice field and a concession stand, Brown said.

Kilgore Construction Inc. is the contractor for this year’s work.

At Rogers, T.W. Clark Construction is refurbishing the track, building baseball bleachers and doing other work under a $1.5 million contract, Brown said.

He said bidding soon will begin on an upgrade of facilities at Hart Field, used by Lewis and Clark High School. Work at Ferris may begin this year, he said, but with the ongoing reconstruction of the campus, the athletic field projects will be completed incrementally over the next few years.

Firms join business park

Marquez Inc., doing business as Oregon Tile & Marble, is leasing 15,750 square feet at the Spokane Business & Industrial Park, 3808 N. Sullivan Road. It’s a wholesale distributor of stone, ceramic tile and related products.

Haakon Industries Inc. is leasing 40,000 square feet in another building at the Spokane Business & Industrial Park. The company provides custom HVAC systems.

Big Lots opening June 10

Spokane’s new Big Lots store will have a grand opening next Friday with a ribbon-cutting at 9 a.m.

The new store is at the NorthPointe Plaza, 9612 N. Newport Highway.

Based in Ohio, Big Lots Stores sell bargain-priced items and closeout merchandise.

Pizza Rita departs downtown mall

Spokane food chain Pizza Rita has closed its downtown River Park Square location. The company opened the RPS pizza shop in the food court in 2005. The final day was May 30.

Managers of River Park Square have not announced a new tenant for that site. Cowles Co., which operates The Spokesman-Review, owns River Park Square.