Cross-laminated timber maker Katerra moving offices to Wonder Building

Katerra is moving its Spokane office to the Wonder Building on the north bank of the Spokane River downtown, according to city permit data.

The California-based, off-site construction startup will do $780,000 in improvements to more than 10,000 square feet of space in the Wonder Building, 835 N. Post St., which is a former industrial bread bakery. Katerra’s office relocation is expected to happen in the fall.

Katerra opened an cross-laminated timber products factory in Spokane Valley this year. The 250,000-square-foot plant will make structural panels and beams from wood scraps that are glued together in layers and compressed to produce cross-laminated timber. The factory, which is still under construction, has begun limited production. Last week, the company delivered the first CLT panels to Avista’s Catalyst project at the south landing of the University District Gateway Bridge.

The Wonder Building opened this year and is filling up with some prominent tenants.

The 95,000-square-foot bakery building, which was added to the Spokane Register of Historic Places in 2018, currently houses Rover, a Seattle-based dogsitting and walking startup; and Parametrix, a Seattle-based engineering company that largely focuses on public infrastructure. Chad White, a local restaurateur, said he will open High Tide Lobster Bar 2 there as well., which is confirmed by city permits.

Permits issued this week also show the building will house an Evans Brothers coffee bar.

The three-story building is formally known as the Spokane-Continental Bakery Building, a complex of four buildings erected beginning in 1909. The building’s $15 million renovation was completed this year.

Katerra is acting as general contractor and architect on the Wonder project.