New businesses in west Spokane hope to bring more foot traffic

Elenee Dao by Elenee Dao

SPOKANE, Wash. — More places to eat and drink are popping up in Spokane, specifically the west side of town. It is starting to boom as two restaurants opened up right next to each other.

Both Watts 1903 and Brick West Brewing opened within a month of each other. The building used to be Watts Automotive and Driveline back in the day. There are garage doors still on the building that can show that.

“We’ve definitely had a lot of people comment about how they’ve gotten their drive lines fixed here already,” said Kelsey Strom, with Watts 1903.

“There was a bunch of people who said ‘Hey, I took my car here for so long and now I’m drinking a beer here,'” recalled Brian Carpenter, with Brick West Brewing.

It’s turned into a place where people can meet up and hang out – but to get the building fixed up to what it is now, it took a long time.

“It was definitely a really long process. Watching it through each stage, you get really antsy and you think it’s never going to get done and then finally we have this,” Strom said of Watts 1903.

Customer Ryan Doud is a Spokane Native. When he heard about Watts 1903 opening up, he knew where it was going to be.

“I knew exactly what they were talking about. Had no idea it was going to look like this,” he said.

Watts 1903 just opened to the public on Thursday, serving “elevated pub food,” Strom said. The restaurant wanted to pay homage to the original owners of the building, leading them to keep the old name.

4 News Now visited Brick West Brewing when they opened about a month ago.

RELATED: Spotlight Spokane: Brick West Brewing Co.

Seeing Kendall Yards grow along with other parts of downtown, both restaurants were ready to see this side of the city grow, too.

“Browne’s Addition and this way has kind of been neglected for quite a while, because there was no where to really go. We have a coffee shop, but beyond that it wasn’t a whole lot here,” Strom said.

But now, these two restaurants are on the west side of town. A new apartment complex just opened within the year and Hotel Indigo is set to open in just a few months on First Avenue.

“Everyone’s been doing their part and all the neighbors that have been through, for countless years have been helping making this area cool,” Carpenter said.

With so many businesses opening up, you’d think there would be competition, but there isn’t any. Both restaurants say they are just happy to have more business on that side of town.

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