Horizon Credit Union, of Spokane, hopes to break ground next month on a new branch office on Spokanes North Side that would be the first of perhaps three new branches.


Kent Preston, president and CEO of Horizon, says that during the last five months, the credit union has bought three pieces of property for branch sites: a 46,000-square-foot lot on Spokanes North Side, a 114,000-square-foot lot in Liberty Lake, and a 26,000-square-foot lot in Colville, Wash.


Design work is nearing completion for the branch thats to be built at the North Side site, at 9861 N. Nevada, behind Northpointe Plaza shopping center and north of a State National Bank branch. Construction bids for the project are expected to be sought soon, and Preston says he expects work to begin in mid-July.


The branch, which is expected to cost about $450,000 to build, will have 3,200 square feet of floor space and three drive-up teller windows, says Dick Stauffer, a principal at Miller Stauffer Architects PA, the Coeur dAlene firm thats designing the new branch. Stauffer adds that the building will have a brick exterior, a concrete-tile roof, and an entryway with a vaulted ceiling and skylights.


Preston says the branch, which is expected to open by December, likely will employ five people to begin with and later add two more.


Later this fall, construction bids will be sought for a branch office in Colville, which will replace Horizons current branch there, Preston says. He says that the credit union has outgrown the 900-square-foot space it leases in that northeast Washington town and plans to replace it with a branch that will have between 2,500 square feet and 3,000 square feet of space. He says the new branch should be completed by next September. It will be located on the north end of Colville, across town from Horizons current branch there. Miller Stauffer also is designing the Colville branch.


Meanwhile, the property Horizon bought in Liberty Lake is located near the southwest corner of Liberty Lake Road and Country Vista Drive. Preston says Horizon will firm up plans for its project at that site once the North Side branch has been built and is operating smoothly. He says he doesnt expect any project to get under way at Liberty Lake this year.


Horizon currently operates 10 branches, including four in Spokane and one each in Deer Park, Davenport, Colville, Sandpoint, Coeur dAlene, and Post Falls. The credit union has about 21,000 members and serves people who live or work in the Mead, East Valley, West Valley, Central Valley, and Post Falls school districts. It also serves employees and customers of rural electrical cooperatives, plus people who live or work on the South Hill, in the Cheney-Medical Lake area, and in Stevens County.