Construction Associates of Spokane Inc. has started remodeling the 12,000-square-foot 11th floor of the Paulsen Center at 421 W. Riverside, where Inland Northwest Bank plans to move its executive offices, says INB president and CEO Russell Lee. 

The bank has a downtown branch in the building and occupies office space on both of the first two floors. Its executive offices currently are located on the second floor, Lee says.

The 11th floor space in the Paulsen Center most recently was occupied by natural language software company Next IT Corp., which last year moved to 12809 E. Mirabeau Parkway, in the Pinecroft Business Park, in Spokane Valley.

“When Next IT left, it presented a great opportunity for us to secure that space because we’re growing,” Lee says. “We want to stay in the Paulsen.”

INB senior vice president and marketing director Jason Miller says the majority of INB’s staff is located on the second floor and will be moving to the 11th floor. About 35 employees initially will move to the 11th floor once the project is finished at the beginning of next year.

The bank currently occupies first floor space for personal banking, mortgage, deposit operations, and loan processing, Miller says.

Lee says the bank will continue to retain space on the second floor, and the first-floor branch will remain at its current location.

Mike Galles, owner of Construction Associates, says the company recently finished 11th floor demolition work, which began near the end of last year.

The entire project is expected to cost about $900,000.

Bernardo|Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, is the architect for the remodel.

The Paulsen Center is regarded as one of Spokane’s most classic and historic landmarks. The center includes two buildings, which take up the entire south side of the block of Riverside between Stevens and Washington streets. August Paulsen, a native of Denmark, constructed the first of two buildings in 1908, and it’s 11 stories tall.

The adjoining second building—which occupies the northeast corner of the block, nearest Washington—is 17 stories tall and was built following Paulsen’s death in 1927, says a Paulsen Center website. The two buildings were connected in 1978.