The Dirt: Plans outline new taphouse with yurt on North Monroe Street

A new taphouse with a unique concept involving a yurt could be coming to Monroe Street.

Spokane residents Blaise Barshaw and Laurie Ann Greenberg have filed preliminary plans with the city to build Camp Taps Taphouse in the parking lot adjacent to 1889 Salvage Co. at 2824 N. Monroe St.

Site plans show a deck supporting a 113-square-foot yurt with several seats and an adjacent trailer that will be repurposed into a service area featuring several taps.

The couple moved from Portland to Spokane in 2017 in search of new business opportunities, according to a document submitted with their application for the taphouse.

Barshaw, an artist, owned and operated a small offset printing company, Brothers Printing Inc., in Portland for 23 years. Greenberg has more than 30 years of experience in the beauty industry, according to the document. – A.E.

STCU to build

new branch in Valley

Spokane Teachers Credit Union is planning to build a new bank branch adjacent to its existing home loan center on Argonne Road in Spokane Valley.

STCU has filed a preliminary application with the city to build a 3,100-square-foot branch with three drive-thru lanes at 9209 E. Mission Ave.

An existing office building will be demolished to make way for the new branch, according to the application.

Spokane-based Bernardo|Wills Architects is the project architect.

STCU opened its home loan center at 9207 E. Mission Ave. in 2018 after investing more than $900,000 in improvements to the 1970s-era building. The credit union also remodeled and upgraded the adjacent office building, with several suites leased to small businesses.

A separate application filed with the city by Ryan and Paul Breithaupt indicates plans to move two offices from the office building at 9209 E. Mission Ave. to a proposed 4,400-square-foot building on Nora Avenue, east of Pines Road and Interstate 90 interchange.

STCU was founded by educators in 1934 and is a member-owned, nonprofit cooperative with more than 200,000 members and 24 locations in Eastern Washington and Idaho. – A.E.

Retail planned near proposed North 40

A new retail development could be built adjacent to the proposed North 40 Outfitters site on the West Plains.

Spokane-based Bernardo|Wills Architects filed a preliminary application on behalf of Deer Heights LLC for the retail project at 9746 W. U.S. Highway 2 in Airway Heights.

The retail development calls for a more than 8,000-square-foot retail building with a medical/dental office and a restaurant, which is listed as MOD Pizza on preliminary site plans filed with the city.

The project valuation is $1 million, according to the application.

North 40 Outfitters is building a 95,000-square-foot development north of the proposed retail building at 9646 W. U.S. Highway 2.

The North 40 Outfitters development will include a 75,600-square-foot retail building, a 1,000-square-foot space for offices, a lunch room and lockers, and a 12,800-square-foot warehouse, according to the application. – A.E.

Spokane Public Library

to accept bids for branch

The Spokane Public Library will open bidding for construction of both the Liberty Park Library and The Hive on March 11.

Liberty Park Library is the working title for the new structure in the East Central neighborhood that will replace the library at 524 S. Stone St.

The Spokane Public Library hopes to break ground at 402 S. Pittsburg St. in May, said Amanda Donovan, Spokane Public Library spokeswoman.

The library will keep East Side Library open for the duration of construction, and is planning on the Liberty Park Library opening in spring 2021. Donovan said the new location will have floor-to-ceiling windows that will highlight the beauty of Liberty Park, as well as an enhanced children’s discovery area.

“If you’ve ever been at the East Side Library on storytime day, it can be very, very crowded,” Donovan said. “Right now, the children’s area is very small. The (new) library is nearly double the size of the East Side library. It’s going to have double the program room space.”

The Hive at Libby Center, a proposed project by Spokane Public Library and Spokane Public Schools that will bring a teacher-training facility, maker lab and gallery to the East Central Neighborhood, will be built on a vacant site at 2904 E. Sprague Ave.

The Hive is part of a project swap between the Spokane Public Library and Spokane Public Schools. The library district will build The Hive at Libby Center and, in exchange, the school district will build a new library at Shaw Middle School in Hillyard. – M.R.