SPOKANE, Wash. STCU announced plans this morning to expand into the historic downtown Hutton Building, in hopes the city landmark, acquired by the credit union in a 2012 foreclosure, will help spur downtown development.
The $1.7 billion credit union, formerly Spokane Teachers CU, plans to open a new branch and commercial loan offices, while offering office space for purchase on some floors, hoping to turn the building into a downtown anchor. STCU made more than $33 million of member business loans last year and the business is growing.
The building was built in 1907 by silver mine millionaires Levi and Mary Hutton, who lived in a fourth-floor apartment while they hosted parties for such notable guests as four-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan.
Tom Johnson, president of STCU, said the project “gives STCU an opportunity to reclaim an architectural treasure,” which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Johnson said the STCU management team and board of directors are confident the downtown core will continue spreading east toward Division St. and the University District.
STCU has no plans to give up either its nearby U-District location in the historic Schade Towers, or its downtown branch in the skywalk level of Crescent Court. And administrative offices and most other back-office functions will remain at STCU’s headquarters at Liberty Lake.
