Mountain West Bank opens its headquarters in the old Spokesman-Review building

Mountain West Bank has opened its headquarters and a branch on Northwest Boulevard, in the building that used to house The Spokesman-Review's North Idaho office. The Coeur d'Alene Press and the Idaho Business Review both reported the opening this week.

The move was two years in the making. Here is the paper trail.

THE BUILDING

- Address: 608 Northwest Blvd., a few blocks north of downtown.
- Four stories, about 30 years old, roughly 44,000 square feet. Each floor is about 8,000 square feet, and so is a basement level with a cafeteria and meeting space.
- The bank bought it in May 2024 from Cowles Real Estate Co. for $9.5 million, the Spokane Journal of Business reported that August.
- The renovation took 14 months. Architects West designed it and Young Construction built it, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported.

WHY THE BANK MOVED

Mountain West had been spread across several leased suites at Mountain West Plaza, 101 W. Ironwood Drive. President and CEO Scott Anderson told the Journal in 2024 that the bank wanted its people under one roof and needed less space than it did 15 to 20 years ago.

The plan then was to bring about 110 employees to Northwest Boulevard. The Press reports about 125 now work there, including commercial banking, mortgage, treasury management and operations. They had been spread across two buildings and several suites on Ironwood Drive. The Ironwood Drive branch stays open.

THE BANK

- Started in Coeur d'Alene in 1993, according to the bank.
- A division of Glacier Bank. Its holding company is Glacier Bancorp, of Kalispell, Montana.
- 21 locations in Idaho and Washington as of 2024, when the Journal ranked it the ninth largest bank in Spokane and Kootenai counties.

WHAT WE HAVE NOT CONFIRMED

The Press report says the bank is opening its doors at the new building but gives no exact day and no renovation cost. We could not open the Idaho Business Review report.