The Dirt: STCU to build 20th Spokane County branch

Officials at STCU will begin construction this month on a new branch at the southwest corner of the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center, according to a news release.

The building will be constructed on the footprint of a former U.S. Bank branch that burned due to equipment malfunction in 2024, according to reports from The Spokesman-Review.

Located at 2807 E. 29th Ave., the Lincoln Heights Branch will be a full-service STCU location meant to help alleviate traffic at the credit union’s existing branches on Spokane’s South Hill, according to the release.

STCU purchased the site earlier this year and tentatively plans to open the branch in late 2026 or early 2027.

“We love branching out to serve new and existing members in communities that might otherwise lose the opportunity for face-to-face interactions with a local financial institution,” said Lindsey Myhre, STCU president and CEO. “At the same time, we will not overlook our many members right here in Spokane, where STCU got its start 92 years ago.”

Founded in 1934 by teachers at Lewis and Clark High School, the organization, formerly known as Spokane Teachers Credit Union, is a nonprofit financial cooperative serving more than 300,000 members, the release said.

Like its nearby branches, the proposed building will feature a lobby, two drive-thru lanes, a walk-up ATM and onsite parking. It will be staffed by a team of five.

The 4,800-square-foot branch is designed by Bernardo Wills Architects of Spokane, which has designed other STCU branch es, including the Mt. Spokane Branch that opened in January, the release said.

Anticipated cost for construction of the is expected to be about $4.5 million, including the cost of land acquisition.

The Lincoln Heights Branch will be STCU’s 52nd branch location, and its 20th in Spokane County, according to the release.

More than half of all households include one or more STCU members, according to the credit union.

Housing project planned for Maxwell Avenue

A few blocks north of the Spokane County Campus, developers are planning to tear down an 1897 apartment building and replace it with an apartment building with as many as 24 units, according to plans submitted to the city of Spokane.

Located at 1101 W. Maxwell Ave., the site sits at the southwest corner of Maxwell Avenue and Madison Street.

On the property is a nine-unit, roughly 5,200-square foot building owned by Four Amigos Investing, a company registered at a corporate building in Tumwater, Washington. Its owner, Thomas Khammar, is a Los Angeles-based managing partner of Power Property Management.

Khammar purchased the Spokane property in 2017 for $224,500, according to Spokane County property records.

Plans for the housing project, dubbed the Maxwell Apartments, were submitted as part of the predevelopment process, which gives developers the opportunity to garner feedback from city building officials before construction permits are sought.

Architectural designs explore three possible development plans, all of which include a four-story building with a footprint of roughly 2,500 square feet.

The first and second set of plans differ between 16 and 20 apartment units and the required size of outdoor patio provided, in accordance to city code.

The third set of plans include an underground level that will include an additional four apartments units. The documents also contemplate the possibility of an accessory dwelling unit detached from the main one, typically referred to as in-law suites.

The building could add one more unit of housing totaling 600 square feet, plans show.

Plans were submitted by Greenacres-based Paul Harrington of ROMR Architects.

Harrington spoke with Khammar, but said the owner declined comment about the project projected to cost about $3 million.

Fourplex planned

for South Hill

Predevelopment plans have been submitted to the city of Spokane calling for a four-unit residential building on West 12th Avenue.

The project is planned for a vacant property at 1320 W. 12th St., plans show.

Each unit is planned to have two bedrooms and be approximately 900 square feet.

The property was recently segmented from the original property at 1125 S. Cedar St., according to Spokane County property records.

The property on Cedar features a four-unit building that was remodeled in 2023, city of Spokane records show.

Both the remodel and the proposed fourplex projects are from developer Melissa Murphy, who owns both properties.

Murphy is Spokane-based investor and real-estate adjunct professor at Gonzaga University, her alma mater, according to her website.

Murphy is also a broker and the owner of Property Real Estate Group, a Spokane-based brokerage.

Murphy could not be reached last week for comment.