Spokane Tribe to dedicate new building
The Spokane Tribe will dedicate an imposing new administration building Friday in Wellpinit, Wash., with prayers, drumming and dancing.
The 11 a.m. ceremony will be followed by a public luncheon.
Tribal leaders say the two-story, 35,000-square-foot Alfred E. McCoy Administrative Center is an architectural tribute to the Spokanes’ heritage, as well as a roomier place to conduct the tribe’s business.
The building has a wooden exterior, an expansive entrance and a two-story glass atrium reception area. A steeply pitched metal roof gives the center a commanding perch over surrounding one-story structures.
Inside, offices are identified with signs written in the tribe’s Salish language.
A basement archive will accommodate records now stored in scattered semi-trailers.
Directing people to tribal offices should be a snap now. Departments previously scattered all over town are now consolidated in the McCoy Center at the junction of the two highways that lead into Wellpinit.
The new headquarters is kitty-corner from the Sherwood Community Center, which has housed the tribal council and other government offices since 1975. Space freed up in the Sherwood Center is being shifted to recreational and community service uses, such as programs for youths and elders.
The administration building is named for Alfred McCoy, who served on the tribal council for 20 years.
“He stuck his heels in and held onto the Spokane people and their land with all the determination of warriors of long ago, and for that we name a grand new building for him,” said Nin Day, a Planning Department employee and a lifelong Wellpinit resident.
In addition to tribal offices, the McCoy Center was designed to house offices of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Lease payments from the bureau are expected to help defray the $6 million construction cost.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development service guaranteed a bank loan that will be repaid from tribal revenue. The guarantee was necessary because the building is on trust land that can’t be used as collateral.