Checking in on Spokane's $450K 'Hacking Washington' campaign that was meant to attract businesses to the area

SPOKANE, Wash. — In October, the City of Spokane launched a campaign to encourage people and businesses in Seattle to relocate to Spokane.

The $450,000 campaign boasts of Spokane's affordable housing, shorter commute times, and many other features the Lilac City has to offer.

We checked in to find out how the campaign is going and what businesses have already made the move.

So far, its caught the attention of two Seattle based companies, Rover and Mckinstry.

Rover is a dog-sitting start-up.

The company was already looking for a city to establish its second headquarters.

It found Spokane to be the right fit because it prioritizes multi-modal transit, has a great urban culture and lots of green space for Rover's two and four-legged teammates. It will soon settle into its new offices at the Wonder building.

The second is McKinstry, a construction engineering company. It moved here from Seattle several years ago. But the city marks the company as a positive response to the campaign because it's now helping lead another investment of more than $100 million in the University District area.

Julie Happy and Shauna Harshman with the city of Spokane oversee the campaign and the city's economic development.

They found that many Seattle businesses didn't know Spokane's downtown is as thriving as it is, or the manufacturing Spokane has in the aerospace field, along with the growing tech community.

So the campaign has really helped Spokane shake off its old look and make Seattle business aware of the new opportunities Spokane can offer.