The Spokane-based Washington Wheat Commission has purchased for $1.25 million a building on Sunset Boulevard where it plans to move from quarters downtown it has occupied for 50 years.

The commission plans to occupy about 6,000 square feet of space in the 10,000-square-foot building it recently bought at 2702 W. Sunset Blvd., and will lease out the remaining space, says Thomas Mick, CEO of the Washington Grain Alliance. The alliance performs administrative duties for the wheat commission, Washington Barley Commission, and Washington Association of Wheat Growers, Mick says.

Currently, the wheat commission leases about 3,800 square feet of space in the Great Western Building, at 907 W. Riverside. The commission plans to move to the new building on Sunset Boulevard in May, he says.

Meanwhile, Mick says, a bill is pending in the Washington Legislature to merge the barley and wheat commissions, though their revenues and expenditures would be kept separate.

"We're going to need more board room space and storage space," in part because of the likely merger, he says.

The Grain Alliance employs seven people now, and plans to add another employee once a hiring freeze for state employees is lifted. The wheat commission is a state agency created in 1958 to fund industry self-help programs for the wheat industry through an assessment on each bushel of wheat sold.

The barley commission was formed in 1985. Barley growers pay an assessment of 1 percent of the net proceeds on each bushel of barley marketed in Washington, and those funds are used to support research and market development. That commission also leases space in the Great Western Building downtown.