Law building planned here will look like White House

Journal of Business, Sep 11, 2008 by McLean, Mike

Spokane lawyer Amos Hunter says he plans to develop an office building near the Spokane County Courthouse that would be modeled after the White House, in Washington, D.C., in its architectural style.

Hunter is a principal in Spokane Law & Justice Center LLC, which will own the building, to be located at 710 N. Cedar, just north of the planned Kendall Yards mixed-use development. He estimates construction costs at $1.2 million.

The project currently is under plan review at the city of Spokane's building department. Hunter says he expects construction to begin next February, and the project will take eight to 10 months to complete.

Tentatively called White House West, the building will be built on a much smaller scale than its namesake, says Hunter, adding that he's been toying with the idea of such a design for nearly 15 years. It will have two stories and a total of 6,000 square feet of floor space, he says.

Hunter and three other independently practicing attorneys here, J. Gregory Casey, Darwin Grewe, and Geoff Swindler, plan to move into the building along with their combined staffs totaling six employees. Hunter, Grewe, and Swindler currently share about 2,200 square feet of space in the Rockpointe Tower, at 316 W. Boone.

Hunter says the Spokane Law & Justice Center is looking to lease space to other lawyers, and the building will house about 10 solo practitioners and their support employees.

Elliott Construction Co., of Spokane Valley, will be the contractor on the project, and Jerry Shogan Architect, of Colbert, designed it.