Business in brief: Jobs grant will include Spokane

A $6 million federal job-training grant announced Wednesday includes about $850,000 for Spokane, said Mark Mattke, of the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council.

The grant application for Washington says the money will fund instruction for 192 unemployed Spokane workers, veterans and others in energy conservation, auditing and weatherization.

Most will be trained at Spokane community colleges.

Statewide, 4,814 will participate in training provided at community colleges.

The grants announced by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis are a portion of $190 million allocated from the economic stimulus package enacted last year.

Bert Caldwell

Shared-space offices available

A Spokane company has started a shared-space “co-working” area in the Holley Mason Building, at 157 S. Howard St.

LaunchPad Inland Northwest LLC, with help from building owner ConoverBond Development, has converted the building’s fifth floor into a work space where entrepreneurs can rent a desk and share ideas with other professionals.

Tenants, paying between $75 to $150 per month, set up a small office in the open work area on the fifth floor. They get to use a work desk, tables, Wi-Fi access, printer, an office copier and a conference room.

They also can take advantage of the nearby LaunchPad Lounge, with bistro tables and couches for folks to meet and mingle.

LaunchPad will host an open house and tour Jan. 28 from 4-5 p.m.

Tom Sowa

Boeing likely to cut more jobs

Seattle – Boeing expects employment to decline this year in its commercial airplane division, mostly in the Puget Sound area.

Spokesman Tim Healy told the Seattle Times there’s no target, but the decline may be about half the 4,300 commercial airplane jobs that were cut last year.

Healy says there’ll be job growth early in the year, offset by more cuts later in the year.

Associated Press

Coldwater closes one Seattle store

Seattle – Coldwater Creek, a women’s clothier based in Sandpoint, plans to close a large store in downtown Seattle at the end of this month.

A sign on the store’s front door at the Fifth & Pine building, in the heart of downtown’s shopping district, says a clearance sale has been under way since Tuesday. The store’s lease expires next month after 10 years, a saleswoman said.

The closure affects about 25 employees, who have been offered the chance to transfer to another store locally, the saleswoman said. Coldwater Creek has eight additional stores in the Puget Sound region.

Seattle Times