County unemployment up slightly
Spokane County’s December unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.4 percent, state employment officials said Tuesday.
That rate was a fraction higher than November’s jobless rate of 5.3 percent, said Jeff Zahir, regional labor economist with Washington’s Employment Security Department.
The state’s December jobless rate was 5.3 percent, a mild drop from November’s 5.5 percent. The national unemployment rate in December was 4.9 percent, down from 5.0 percent in November.
Spokane County had about 12,700 unemployed workers in December, compared with 12,400 the month before. That difference is mostly due to seasonal work adjustments, said Zahir.
Two finalists chosen for WSU Riverpoint parcel
Washington State University has selected two finalists from among a group of four applicants vying for the opportunity to develop five acres of land just east of downtown on the Riverpoint higher education campus.
Gerald Schlatter, WSU’s executive director of capital planning, said the two finalists are American Campus Communities, a national student housing builder, and Northwest Architectural Co. of Spokane. The original group of applicants also included SRM Development of Spokane, and the Phoenix Project, a proposal developed by a group of Spokane businesspeople.
WSU, which is offering a 55-year ground lease, expects to select a developer by March. The land stretches southeast from the intersection of Pine Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard and holds several structures, most notably the historic Jensen-Byrd building.
Northwest Architectural proposed a mix of office, retail and research-oriented tenants who would occupy up to 200,000 square feet of space in a complex called Riverpoint Plaza. It would have up to seven buildings and would also offer housing, though no set number of units has been determined, company President Bruce Blackmer said in a recent news story.
American Campus Communities proposed a mix of housing and neighborhood retail tenants, such as a grocery store, drycleaner, coffee shops and restaurants. The company’s proposal also called for between 350 and 560 individual living units or “beds,” according to past news reports.
NIC center to expand
Post Falls Two years of record enrollments has prompted North Idaho College’s Workforce Training Center to expand across the street.
The center is renting 4,800 square feet of classroom space from Jacklin Land Co. The Kaniksu classrooms, located at 510 W. Clearwater Loop, Suite 304, will be open for viewing from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. today during an open house.
The additional space will ease a classroom shortage, prompted by the record numbers of students, said Robert Ketcham, the center’s director.