Business in brief

Davenport tower nearly at final height

Construction crews working on the Davenport Hotel Tower in downtown Spokane say the 21-story building will “top out” this week, meaning all the major structural components of the precast concrete building will be in place.

“I’ve heard this is the tallest precast building west of the Mississippi,” said Joe Stewart, who is coordinating the installation work for Central Pre-Mix. “It’s been a challenge just figuring out how to do it. It’s staged for each elevation as we’ve gone up.”

Stewart said he’s using a crane with a 300-ton capacity to build the 210-foot high structure and the biggest piece of pre-cast concrete they’ve installed was 120,000 pounds.

“The ones we’re setting today are 17-by-28 feet,” he said.

After the crews finish with the main building, they will immediately switch to the five-story parking garage behind the hotel tower, Stewart said.

The new hotel will offer 319 rooms, 6,000 square feet of meeting space and a new restaurant and bar. Davenport Hotel owner Walt Worthy has said in the past that the tower should be open by January.

Washington

National gas price average $2.50 a gallon

The average U.S. retail price of gasoline fell by 12 cents last week to $2.50 a gallon – the lowest it has been since the end of March, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

Still, prices remain high in the Inland Northwest, according to data compiled by AAA. The average price in Spokane currently is $2.99 a gallon, while the average price in Coeur d’Alene is $2.77 a gallon.

The federal agency said Monday that gasoline prices were most expensive last week on the West Coast, averaging $2.806 per gallon, and cheapest in the Gulf Coast region, averaging $2.386 per gallon.

The main factor underpinning the still relatively high price of gasoline is the cost of crude oil, which has remained well above historical levels because of rising global demand and geopolitical uncertainties.

Holiday spending increase pegged lower

Retail experts are predicting that shoppers will spend $457.4 billion over the holidays – a 5 percent increase over last year.

Rosalind Wells, chief economist for the National Retail Federation, estimates that spending will increase by 5 percent as compared with last year’s 6.1 percent increase, an Associated Press story said. The projections include sales from grocery, health and personal care, home improvement and office supply stores along with florists, but exclude figures from auto dealers, gas stations and restaurants.

High energy prices, rising interest rates and a cooler housing market all translate into a less robust increase, the National Retail Federation said.

For the first half of this year, same-store sales increased by almost 4.1 percent.