Studio Cascade joins larger company, which anticipates expanding Spokane workforce

Studio Cascade, a Spokane-based community planning and design firm, has been acquired by SCJ Alliance Consulting Services, of Lacey, Washington.

Studio Cascade’s founder, Bill Grimes, will remain with SCJ Alliance as a principal. The company anticipates future expansion in the Spokane office, which currently has six employees.

“We had more work than we had staff,” said Grimes, who described the acquisition as an opportunity to join forces with a like-minded, but larger firm.

Grimes, 56, founded Studio Cascade in 1993 after moving to Okanogan, Washington.

“I was a Southern California refuge who set up a consulting shop because there wasn’t much urban design work to do in Okanogan,” he said.

He moved to Spokane in 1998, picking up projects around the region and the country. Locally, Studio Cascade worked on plans for the Lincoln Heights District Center surrounding 29th Avenue and Regal Street.

Other work included a master plan for the University of Idaho’s Sandpoint property, a Bainbridge Island waterfront park and a comprehensive plan for Chelan County Parks and Recreation.

SCJ Alliance has 95 employees in eight offices – seven in Washington and one in Boulder, Colorado.

“Spokane has been on the company’s radar because of the level of renewal and public and private investment,” said Pam Folsom, SCJ Alliance’s communications manager. And, “Bill has such a tremendous reputation,” she said of Grimes’ work.

Like Studio Cascade, the company brings a multidisciplinary approach to design and planning, employing engineers, landscape architects and planners, she said.