In good company

Seated on plush, overstuffed couches in the cavernous living room of their South Hill home, they could be the cast of “Friends.”

The quartet of hip, young singles – some related by blood, others by friendship, one with a young child, another engaged to be married – all live under one roof in an opulent house overlooking the city.

Surface comparisons aside, the lives of these friends are more interesting than those of the six neurotic New Yorkers living in fabulous apartments on the popular TV sitcom.

It began last summer when the group rented the 1905 home owned by downtown real estate developer Dan Spalding. Hailing from San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Calif., and Aspen, Colo., the foursome walked away from former lives and loves to start anew in Spokane.

“We had all come out of major relationships,” said 33-year-old Ryan Reichert, an artist who shows his unique etchings in California. Reichert was in the Bay Area going through a divorce when an old pal, Sam Hall, suggested he check out Spokane.

“I came out to visit a few times, and just fell in love with the people here,” Reichert said.

Hall, like his friend, was having relationship woes of his own: After a breakup, the 33-year-old executive recruiter packed his bags, swapping Santa Cruz for Spokane.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “I think it was unique that this happened when we were all at the right place at the right time in our lives.”

But it was Hall’s younger sisters, Jennifer West and Neeley Hall, who helped pioneer the trail to the Lilac City back in 2003.

“I was pregnant and I wanted to be close to my family,” said West, 26. Her son, Kingston Lord, is now 3. “I was living in San Diego and my mother, stepfather and sister had moved here in 1999.”

Within a month of West’s move, Neeley Hall, 32, left Aspen to join the family. Last spring West, a property manager for Spalding, discovered a large turn-of-the-last-century house owned by him.

“I called Sam and said I’d found the perfect place for us,” she said.

Nine months later, the roommates say they couldn’t be happier.

Sitting in their living room and sipping tea, the foursome talks of going out, eating in, hosting theme parties and cooking holiday dinners for friends and family.

“I’m the baker,” West said. “And Neeley is the chef.”

“I’m the grill-master,” Sam Hall boasts. “And I bring the wine,” adds Reichert.

All four say they thrive on one another’s company.

“I had an apartment in Browne’s Addition and I loved living alone,” said Neeley Hall, now engaged to Spokane Symphony Conductor Eckhart Preu. “But it’s just fun to know that someone is always home.”

Reichert agrees.

“It’s a big, scary house when you’re alone,” he said. “But it’s warm and inviting and comfortable when everyone is here.”

Still, sharing quarters with friends and family has its drawbacks. Is it possible to know each other a little too well?

Although the group affectionately credits West with bringing them together, they all agree the real catalyst for their unorthodox living arrangement is her son.

“Kingston is one of the reasons we’re all together,” Neeley Hall said.

“He makes the house a home,” Reichert added.

“Except at the end of the day you can hand him back,” Sam Hall quipped.

West strikes a more serious note: “I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”