SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington Governor Jay Inslee visited Spokane Tuesday, touring the downtown Catalysy building and Hope House 2.0.
Inslee arrived at the Catalyst building at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The building is the result of a partnership between Eastern Washington University and Avista. The $64 million, 159,000-square-foot building is the city's first zero-emission and zero-carbon building. It also hosts many educational programs for EWU students aimed at partnering with community groups to address local issues.
Inslee said during his tour that the Catalyst - which is the first building made from cross-laminated lumber in the city and one of the largest in the state - could soon be the framework for other such buildings in the state.
"What you see in Catalyst is the first, of what I believe will be hundreds of projects across the state of Washington, in part funded by the Climate Commitment Act that the legislature passed and I signed last week. So, we see a vision of the future that is going to be worldwide at some point starting right here in Spokane. I could not be more excited," Inslee said.
While at the Catalyst, Inslee watched presentations about the building and toured projects happening in the different departments. He also was gifted a piece of EWU's original red turf.
He also visited the university's first dedicated space for the Occupational Therapy program, as well as Avista's power grid simulator, which allows the company to prepare for different scenarios affecting the local power network.
"Well, this is fantastic, to have a simulation capability in this, it's just a godsend to do all this work. And obviously, you are using it in such an innovative capacity and I love the fact you are coordinating it with climate change," Inslee told an Avista leader during the tour.
After his tour of the Catalyst, he then met with local leaders at Volunteers of America's Hope House 2.0.
Along with discussing homelessness in Spokane with local leaders, including Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward, he also heard about Hope House 2.0's goal of providing housing to women in need.
"As you might know this building just opened recently. It's one of very few in our nation where we partnered both as emergency shelter on the bottom floor and permanent support of housing on the top floor," a Hope House 2.0 leader told Inslee. "So you don't see this model very frequently. We're very excited to roll it out here in Spokane community."
There were three people protesting in support of the effort to recall Governor Inslee outside of the Catalyst. A larger group of about a dozen protesters were present outside of Hope House 2.0