Design Source moving into the UD

(as reported in the Journal of Business by Virginia Thomas)

Spokane-based interior design company Design Source Inc. plans next year to move to a new, larger location at 502 E. Fifth, east of downtown Spokane, after a renovation of the 4,500-square-foot structure.

Design Source owner and principal Angie Cashen says the decision was motivated by a lack of space in Design Source’s current building, at 804 S. Monroe, on Spokane’s South Hill.

“We didn’t have any space for how we want to work, like lounge spaces, collaboration spaces,” Cashen says. “We basically have room for a library and our desks. (The current building) is a former fire station, and it’s on the historic preservation list, so we couldn’t add on or do anything to it. We knew we needed to find another location.”

Located on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Sherman Street, the new building is more than double the square footage of the former fire station.

Cashen says she and her husband bought the building for $745,000 in October 2019. Kevin Edwards, of Hawkins Edwards Inc., and Colin Conway, of Kiemle Hagood, handled the transaction.

Design Source will occupy two of the three suites in the building. The third will remain occupied by The Essential Woman Boutique, which offers products for survivors of breast cancer.

Cashen says renovation work will begin in July and be completed next November. She says the work is delayed because one of the current occupants, nonprofit organization Spokane Hearing Oral Program of Excellence, has yet to find a new space.

“Their lease is only until November (2020), but we’re giving them an extension,” Cashen says. “We don’t want to kick them out if they don’t have a place to go.”

Design Source intends to renovate the building for about $200,000 or less, Cashen says. Much of the work will be on infrastructure, such as plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. Renovations will also undo work previously done on the building.

“We’re going to peel back the layers and see what we’re working with, try to expose brick and have good natural materials and a good neutral pallet for us to then create designs in,” Cashen says. “We want to showcase different work areas and how to work in them, so other companies can see for themselves. We want it to be a working showroom and design lab.”

Design Source has selected Spokane-based Yost Gallagher Construction LLC as the contractor on the project. Design Source will act as its own designer and architect.