Ground finally has been broken on the long-awaited Deer Park Business & Industrial Center infrastructure improvement project, located at 2800 E. Crawford in Deer Park, about 15 miles north of Spokane.

Joe Tortorelli, an economic consultant for the city of Deer Park, says that infrastructure work should begin shortly. MDM Construction Inc., of Rathdrum, Idaho, is the contractor for the project, and J-U-B Engineers Inc., of Spokane, provided engineering services, Tortorelli says. 

The project originally was slated to cost about $3.5 million, but Tortorelli says construction bids came in below engineering estimates. 

“The bids for the construction came in at $2.2 million, just for the construction part,” he says. “They’ll add engineering and contingencies and right of way, but the estimated final cost will be less.”

Slated for the project are a new  roadway with sewer, water, sidewalks and underground electrical, natural gas, and lighting systems. Sewer work is to start in the next two weeks.

Paving is expected to begin in the spring of 2015, Tortorelli says. A completion date for the entire project isn’t known at this time.  

Tortorelli says that the business center currently has two tenants committed to construct buildings in the park once the infrastructure improvements are completed. 

One of them is Knight Construction & Supply Inc., of Deer Park, which has committed to constructing a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing and office building there, he says. He also says the company, which is currently located in a smaller facility in Deer Park, expects to hire an additional 30 employees after the building is completed. 

The other committed tenant will be one of Spokane-based Avista Corp.’s service centers, which currently is located in downtown Deer Park, Tortorelli says. He says that plans for the center’s new building haven’t been finalized yet, but construction is expected to begin next on both Avista’s and Knight’s buildings. 

The 140-acre industrial center, which is planned to be divided into 14 parcels, is owned by five individual corporations, Tortorelli says. 

“We didn’t want to call it a ‘Business Park’ since it’s under multi-ownership,” he says. 

Earlier this year, the Deer Park City Council approved a $1.3 million local improvement district bond, which, along with a $500,000 Washington State Transportation Improvement Board bond and $100,000 of city funds, provided the match for a $1.8 million Federal Economic Development Administration grant. Together, the grant and the match fund the project.