"The airport is working to modernize and improve in terms of its customer service," says Mark Turner, president of Spokane's Economic Development Council. "This is the implementation of a new master plan that seeks to accommodate more cargo and passer traffic while improving customer service." The head of the EDC tells GlobeSt.com the airport expansion and improvements are consistent with the growth the region has experienced over the last few years.
"There has been a lot of recent growth in Spokane," Turner offers, "even during what has been downtime nationally." According to Turner, Inland Paper alone has invested $70 million in plant modernization over the last few years, and other commercial development has been relatively prolific. "Projects in the central core of downtown over the course of the last three or four years total close to $320 million," he says.
New construction includes a mall and renovation of the Davenport Hotel. Countywide, says Turner, another $500 million has been invested in both public and private projects, including road and utility infrastructure. "But Spokane hasn't been isolated from the effects of the recession," notes Turner.
The EDC president says the regions two key areas of concern are impacts to the telecommunications industry, which has had a significant presence here, and tough times for the aluminum industry. "Kaiser Aluminum has had large decreases in employment and activity with the shutdown of smelters," says Turner.
The 1980's was a time when aluminum was of "strategic military interest to the country" says Turner, and under an agreement authorized by Congress in the Regan decade the Bonneville Power Administration was authorized to provide low-cost "preference power" to the aluminum industry. Turner says at one time, a single, large smelter employed as many as 1,000 local residents. But the agreement has been winding down, and plants have or will soon lose those power preferences, raising unemployment.
Fortunately for Spokane, manufacturing and distribution has been on the rise in the area, bringing with it added commercial development. In another project, Spokane International Airport is shelling out around $1.2 million. The project will extend Flint Road to provide direct airport to Pacific Northwest Technology Park, a business park under development by Granite Investments LLC.
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