'Investment in downtown': Washington Trust Bank to open new, renovated Spokane location

Washington Trust Bank will be opening a new location in the old Wells Fargo building in downtown Spokane on Monday - a one-block move from their existing spot.

The building, formally dubbed "Washington Trust Bank Tower East," is located at 601 W. First Ave. in the lobby that used to hold the Wells Fargo Center. It is the second-tallest building in Spokane, after the Bank of America Financial Center, and boasts 4,700 square feet of space. Other businesses will be housed in the building, but the lobby will function as a standard bank branch for customer use.

The east tower sits kitty corner to the bank's established Tower West, making for a multibuilding headquarters downtown. There will be free parking for customers and a drive-thru accessible via Howard Street.

Large windows overlook cushioned seats, a fireplace, conference rooms and teller stations in the new lobby. Visitors can grab a coffee from the Brews Bros in the corner and walk across the space to view a timeline exhibit of the bank's 126-year history in Spokane, which showcases photos of previous locations, owners and checkbooks.

"We want our retail branch just to be more than just a transactional branch," said the bank's regional manager, Mollie Treppiedi. "We want it to be a place where nonprofits could use our conference room, where people could come and grab a coffee at Brews and meet on one of our couch spaces and conduct their business and have conversations."

Washington Trust Bank purchased the building in 2019 for $24 million, but Wells Fargo remained in the space until early 2025. Washington Trust requested city permitting to remodel the lobby in August, a project listed at the time as costing around $2.2 million. Construction began soon after.

Though the purchase and decision to move was before her time, Treppiedi said that it has always been "the dream was to have a marquee branch space here."

"We already have such a strong tie to downtown Spokane and have since the 1960s, really," Treppiedi said. "And so this was just another opportunity to not only reuse that space up there (on Second and Wall) - it's staying with the bank and will be repurposed - but to have a brand new branch here that really just solidifies our investment in downtown."

The old space will be used for the bank's print and supply team and the learning and development team (though an ATM will remain on site), Treppiedi said. The customer-facing employees will transfer over to the new location.

Julie Katzer, owner of Brews Bros and a personal Washington Trust Bank account holder, said the bank's employees have been great customers since the coffee shop moved in during the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of the lobby renovation involved removing the wall between the bank and the cafe, which Katzer said "they did such a nice job" with. She expects having tellers next door will bring in even more customers to the area, and she hopes to lengthen operation hours to accommodate.

"I'm super thankful," she said. "This is going to be huge for us."

This story has been updated to correct Mollie Treppiedi's title.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 7:20 PM.