Business counseling office moves

AHANA’s business counseling office has moved to the Fifth Avenue Medical Building near downtown Spokane.

The nonprofit agency’s office had been in the Spokane Regional Business Center downtown since January, said Executive Director Ben Cabildo. When launched in 1999, its first office was also in the Fifth Avenue Medical Building, at 104 W. Fifth.

“We will continue working with the chamber and the Spokane EDC,” Cabildo said. When AHANA had moved into the SRBC, the goal was for the three groups to form closer ties, he said.

Cabildo cited finances as the chief reason for the relocation, noting that the new office will provide significant savings for AHANA — whose full name is AHANA Business and Professional Association.

For the first time in three years, AHANA will not receive city support in 2006. “With the city government budget situation, we were not identified as a priority,” he said.

The move consolidates the executive office with AHANA’s business incubator, formerly in offices at the Marycliff Center, said Cabildo.

AHANA’s mission is promoting minority-owned businesses and community economic development.

Accounting firm to anchor new building

Coeur d’Alene The accounting firm of Magnuson, McHugh & Co. will be an anchor tenant in a new commercial building on Northwest Boulevard.

The firm will occupy the fourth floor of the building, which is slated for completion in December 2006. Stan Wood, company president, said Magnuson McHugh has outgrown its space in its office near Coeur d’Alene’s Sanders Beach, and needs more room for expansion.

The firm, founded in 1951, has 32 employees, including 13 CPAs. After the move, Magnuson McHugh will sell its current building at 1121 Mullan Ave.

Parkwood Business Properties is developing the new building at 2100 Northwest Boulevard. The five-story building will feature four floors of commercial space, and condos on the top floor.

Avista surcharge OK’d for another year

A surcharge Avista Utilities charges its Idaho customers for power costs that rose above what the company expected has been approved by regulators for another year.

Extension of the 2.45 percent surcharge does not increase rates; it leaves an existing charge in place for another year, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission said in a news release.

Normal costs for supplying power are charged to customers in base rates. However, when a utility incurs higher than normal costs from unusual circumstances, such as low water conditions or volatile markets, the commission allows utilities to recover the additional costs through surcharges, the release said.

The surcharges do not increase company earnings. Idaho law requires that regulated utilities be allowed to recover all “prudently incurred” costs, the release said. Washington customers also pay a surcharge to cover such costs.

The Idaho commission approved the surcharge for Avista after the increase in power supply costs that followed the west’s 2000-2001 energy crisis. Avista’s resulting debt of $78 million has now been reduced to $5.9 million and the surcharge has been lowered from 19.4 percent to 2.45 percent, the release said.

Extension of the surcharge will raise an additional $4.3 million.

Espresso drinks boost Starbucks sales

Starbucks Corp. said same-store sales rose 10 percent for the five weeks ended Oct. 2 compared to the five-week period ended Sept. 26, 2004, boosted by its espresso drinks.

The coffee retailer also said in a press release Wednesday it expects October same-store sales growth to be in the range of 3 percent to 7 percent.

Starbucks said revenue for the five weeks ended Oct. 2 was $653 million, up 5 percent from $625 million for the six-week period in fiscal 2004. However, revenue increased 25 percent when calculated on a comparative five-week basis for September in both fiscal 2004 and 2005.