By Emily Brandler


Of the Journal of Business


Spokane-based Inland Northwest Bank says it plans to open branches in North Spokane, Airway Heights, and Hayden, Idaho, and will close its branch inside a Yokes Fresh Market supermarket on North Foothills Drive.


In May, INB leased a building at 518 W. Francis that currently houses Village Inn Restaurant, with the intention of opening a branch there eventually, says Randy Fewel, the banks president and CEO. It currently is subleasing the building, which is owned by Harlan and Maxine Douglass, to the restaurant, Fewel says.


The restaurants sublease will expire next May, and Fewel says INB likely will decide by the end of this year whether it will remodel the building or demolish it and build a new structure on the site, which is allowed under its lease agreement with the Douglasses. The bank is considering providing mortgage and commercial lending services at the new branch, which it doesnt currently offer at its four branches on the North Side, he says.


Theres such strong growth in that area of town that having a mortgage officer and commercial banker would be very beneficial to our customers, Fewel says.


Also in May, INB bought just under an acre of land in Hayden, Idaho, at the southwest corner of Government Way and Prairie Avenue, he says. The bank is working with Spokane-based 3E Design Group PS on architectural plans for a new building there. It hasnt set a timetable for construction yet, but expects to complete its plans by December, he says.


When the bank would open a branch in Hayden depends largely on its ability to find qualified employees, who are in high demand in the financial services industry right now, Fewel says. Each INB branch typically employs about six people, he says.


The bank decided it wanted to open an office in Hayden because of rising demand at its branches in Coeur dAlene and Post Falls, Fewel says.


Meanwhile, INB is working on securing land in Airway Heights to build a bank branch, Fewel says, but he declines for now to disclose further details. The bank currently operates a branch inside a grocery store in Airway Heights, but, companywide, it is in the process of moving its grocery-store branches to freestanding structures because such buildings have higher visibility to traffic and provide the drive-through services its customers want, he says.


As part of that strategy, INB plans to close its branch in the Yokes Fresh Market store at 210 E. North Foothills by the end of the year, when its lease there expires, he says.


Once that branch closes, the bank will move its employees to a branch it opened in April at 2110 N. Ruby or to other INB locations, he says.


INB currently has 11 branches, including seven in the Spokane area, two in North Idaho, and one in Walla Walla, Wash.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.