The Dirt: Humble Abode Brewing adds downtown location

Humble Abode Brewing is taking the audacious step of expanding into downtown Spokane. It’s taking over the space, and literally most of the equipment, previously used by Common Language Brewing.

Matthew Gilbreath, who with his wife Courtney, founded Humble Abode in 2018 at 1620 E. Houston Ave. He is now remodeling the space in the first floor of the Chronicle Building, at 926 W. Sprague Ave.

“We definitely are going to rebrand that space and make it our own,” Gilbreath said of the Sprague location. “We don’t want to take away from the architecture from that historic building. Everything is going to be as it was.”

“It will include just some painting and we’ll put some wood up on the walls and that’s about it.”

Humble Abode started out with a one-barrel brewing system and has gradually expanded. The brewery is best known for its Peanut Butter Porter and Dirty Sunshine, a hazy IPA, he said.

“We do about 250 barrels a year up north,” Gilbreath said. With the new location, “we will double or triple our brewing capacity.”

Gilbreath submitted a permit request to remodel the existing space. He did not list a contractor because he plans to do most of the work himself.

“I’m hoping that we will be open by mid-July,” he said.

“We are going to have some communal tables where people can meet. I think beer brings people together. It should be nice.”

Volunteers of America set on new office

A building permit has been submitted to build a three-story youth shelter for Volunteers of America at 1439 N. Haven St. in Spokane.

The new youth shelter, which will be located near Spokane Community College, will replace the downtown location for the organization, said Fawn Schott, CEO of Volunteers of America Eastern Washington.

“We are going to be breaking ground in mid-October,” Schott said. “We are moving it over to near the community college so we can have more education-focused opportunities for those young people.”

The first floor of the building will include 18 single-room studio apartments and serve as an emergency shelter for youths ages 13 to 17.

On the second floor, the organization will house 16- to 20-year-olds who are attending school or participating in job programs but have no homes, she said.

The third floor of the building would house the new administrative offices, Schott said.

The building permit estimated the cost of construction at about $7.6 million

The listed contractor is Inland Group of Spokane. Chris Weiland, of Architecture All Forms of Spokane, is the architect.

DCI Engineers is also helping design the project, according to the building permit.

Frontier Behavioral Health eyes office

A demolition permit has been filed to alter 17,000 square feet of the Rock Pointe Corporate Center to make room for the new administrative offices of Frontier Behavioral Health.

The location of the work is the fourth floor of Rock Pointe, at 1330 N. Washington St., Suite 4000. The estimated cost of the remodel is based on a projection of about $80-a-square foot for a total of about $1.3 million.

The demolition, which is in its early stages, is the first step to remodel the existing space to meet Frontier’s specifications, said Angie Cashen, of DS Studio, which is helping design the office space.

Cashen said she and the design team are still working on the design. But it calls for two reception areas and the permit indicates that the space will be used as Frontier’s new administrative offices.

That location is the former regional office for Molina Healthcare of Washington.

Cashen said the owners hope to start the remodel work in July. She did not know the time frame for when Frontier hopes to open the office.

The construction is being done by Leone & Keeble Inc., of Spokane, which is a full service, commercial general contractor. Hunter Chambers at Leone & Keeble could not be reached last week for comment.

The interior technical design is being handled by Kartchner Engineering of Spokane.