Industrial park owners look to expand at new Spokane Valley site

The owners of Spokane Business and Industrial Park have purchased 39 acres near the corner of Barker and Euclid roads in Spokane Valley to build a similar facility that is designed to target distribution-type businesses.

Dean Stuart, Crown West Realty LLC vice president, said the company hopes to break ground later this year, pending permit approvals.

“We have a lot of Fortune 100 companies that have told us that, logistically, Spokane Valley is the ideal location when they look at their studies,” Stuart said. “That’s where they land to serve this greater market area of Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and even Central Washington and eastern Montana.”

Plans for the Barker Logistics Center could include a total of about 600,000 square feet of building space when complete. The first building would be a 120,000-square-foot distribution building with a 36-foot-tall ceiling, according to a news release.

The new logistics center would augment the existing Spokane Business and Industrial Park, which has about 4.5 million square feet of grade-level buildings. At 3808 N. Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley, it’s home to about some 120 companies that employ about 4,500 people, Stuart said.

While the existing industrial park is not completely full, Stuart described the occupancy as “very healthy.”

“I think the market demand is there,” he said. “I think the Spokane and the Coeur d’Alene area … is poised for growth.”

He mentioned the population gains since the coronavirus pandemic struck the area a year ago.

“COVID has shown that people don’t have to live in the big city, and so moving to Spokane and Coeur d’Alene is just going to bring with it more need for last-mile delivery-type space,” Stuart said. “E-commerce is going crazy. Next-day delivery is going crazy. All of that bodes well for the industrial market.”