Spokane City Credit Union building undergoing $650,000 renovation

The 1970s-era Spokane City Credit Union bank building is getting a rehab.

The 3,000-square-foot office building on North Monroe Street, the credit union’s only location, was built in 1970.

“We’re doing a total rehab of the building. It’s got good bones,” said Gene Fitzpatrick, the credit union’s president. “The project just kind of evolved. What started out as a leak in the roof last fall evolved over time. We’re doing this, in part, to get some energy savings.”

Fitzpatrick pointed to the 40-plus-year-old “inefficient heating system and the two walls of windows.”

The $650,000 project will completely renovate the interior and exterior of the existing building, and will require demolition of a house on-site at Lincoln Street and Shannon Avenue. The house, which was most recently used as a duplex, was built in 1904 and will house the credit union’s operation through construction.

The parking lot is being moved to the east side of the property, where the house sits. An Avista electric vehicle charging station will be installed in the lot.

Construction is anticipated to be finished in October.

The work is being done on the south end of a major road construction project on North Monroe, but Fitzpatrick said the construction is coincidental.

The credit union was founded in 1934, and its customers were exclusively city employees. In 1978, credit union membership was expanded to Spokane Transit Authority employees, and in 1980, it opened membership to “anyone who lives, works, worships, or goes to school in the State of Washington,” according to its website. It has 5,200 members.

The project’s general contractor is Spokane Valley’s Meridian Construction. The renovation was designed by MMEC Architecture & Interiors, of Spokane.