Riverstone Site Gets Its First Tenant
A biotech company, BioGenetic Ventures Inc., will be the first tenant in the Riverstone development.
“This is the type of company we want to have at this site,” developer John Stone said Tuesday.
Stone and other investors bought the 73-acre, former mill site along the Spokane River last year. The parcel was one of the last undeveloped waterfront areas in Coeur d’Alene. Plans include a mix of office buildings, residential and retail areas.
BioGenetic Ventures is headed by Spokane Valley native Peter Allison, who founded the company two years ago.
The company’s 17 employees will occupy about 6,000 square feet initially, with plans to expand, Allison said.
The space will also house Allison Johnson Venture Partners.
BioGenetic Ventures works closely with the Heart Institute in Spokane. Earlier this year, it invested $1 million in a series of research projects at the institute. In return, the company will earn a percentage from sales of patented products arising from the research.
BioGenetic Ventures also has agreements with other biotech companies and researchers at Washington State University.
Allison Johnson Venture Partners is a venture capital company that invests in Inland Northwest firms.
Stone said he hopes to have four buildings under construction before winter and one ready for Allison to move into next year. “We think in the next 20 years, this area will go very significantly into the high-tech field,” Allison said.
Like BioGenetic Ventures, most companies moving to the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene corridor will want to locate in existing office parks, he predicted.
“We’re working on four different kinds of cancer research. We don’t have time to develop a building,” Allison said.
The Riverstone development will eventually contain 600,000 square feet of office space and 400,000 square feet of homes and condos, Stone said.
The development’s first marketing efforts target the 400 high-tech companies within a 100-mile radius of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, Stone said.