Hotel Chain To Open Extended-Stay Facility In Valley

Thu., Jan. 29, 1998

Angie Gaddy Staff Writer

An extended-stay hotel is under construction on Sprague Avenue, just a few blocks east of Pines Road.

The 115-room hotel, called Crossland Economy Studio, will open in September, said Mariesa Capelli, spokeswoman for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Extended Stay America Inc.

The $4 to $5 million hotel is marketed to customers who stay a week or longer.

Room prices will range from $159 to $199 a week, she said.

The company operates hotels in areas where there is a temporary work force, such as consultants or contractors. It also locates near major universities and hospital centers, she said.

Extended Stay America has 203 hotel properties across the nation.

Furniture showroom expanded

Freeze Furniture Manufacturing Co. is expanding its showroom, located in Building No. 2 in the northwest corner of the Spokane Business and Industrial Park.

The Valley company, which custom builds wooden office furniture, entertainment centers and upholstered furniture, will add 1,800 square feet to its 3,500-square-foot showroom at its manufacturing center in the industrial park, said president Vern Freeze.

The addition comes as the 15-employee company plans to add two or three office furniture lines to the three it presently offers. Plans also include adding two more entertainment center lines designed for home theater use, he said.

Sales have increased 15 percent annually during the past few years, Freeze said.

The company started in Spokane in 1980 and moved to the industrial park in 1984. It has built furniture for Fairchild Air Force Base and East Valley School District, Freeze said.

“Our business is spread by word of mouth,” Freeze said. “More people are moving into Spokane, buying homes. Our business is mostly custom.”

Zip Trip now offers BP gas

The Zip Trip convenience store on Mullan Road will reopen next week after remodeling and a change in gasoline brands.

The Zip Trip at 1403 N. Mullan, which formerly sold Conoco gas, now will carry British Petroleum at its gas pumps, said Ian Johnstone, director of operations for Zip Trip Food Stores, which owns the station.

The store closed in early December for remodeling.

Four gas pumps, credit card readers at the pump, and a new canopy were added. The store’s exterior colors were also changed to BP’s signature green and yellow.

“It was something we need to upgrade the store and the image,” Johnstone said.

Zip Trip owns 14 Conoco and BP stations in Spokane.

, DataTimes

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