Freedom Truck Centers Inc., of Spokane, is developing a $7 million dealership building near the Interstate 90-Medical Lake interchange and plans to consolidate its other Spokane-area operations there, says owner Ken Cook.


Work on the project is just getting under way, and Cook says hed like to see the company move into the new building by next May. The project is the latest in a string of trucking-related developments to be launched or announced near that interchange west of Spokane over about the last dozen years.


The 49,000-square-foot structure planned by Freedom will include an indoor truck display area, a sales office, 27 truck service bays, a triage bay for trucks whose operators need to have service work done quickly, and a dynamometer room for measuring engine performance, Cook says. It also will have about 10,000 square feet of parts-storage space, and a recycling area, he says.


The building will sit on part of 25 acres that Cook owns along the south side of I-90, a short distance northeast of the interchange, where he already operates a 12,000-square-foot body shop and has a large truck display area along the freeway.


Cook says the $7 million estimated cost of the project includes the expense of equipping and furnishing the building and paving a large area. ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, designed the project, and Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the general contractor.


Were real excited about it, Cook says.


Freedom Truck Centers sells Freightliner, Sterling, and Western Star new trucks and also used trucks, and serves customers throughout the Inland Northwest. Along with the body shop and display area at 10310 W. Westbow, which the company opened in 2000, it operates facilities at 7626 W. Geiger Blvd. and 5615 E. Third, and a store in Yakima. Cook says the company leases the facility on Geiger, but he owns the store on Third and hasnt decided yet what to do with that property.


Freedom Truck Centers employs about 90 people, some 75 of them in the Spokane area, and probably will hire roughly 10 more people here after its new West Plains building is completed, he says.


There is a lot of balance we can get by having it all at one location, Cook says. We can serve the customer better is the bottom line. Its just going to make it a lot friendlier for the customer, and it will make us a lot more efficient.


The trucking industry currently is in a trough, hit hard by higher fuel costs and a reduced volume of freight, he says. The average age of trucks on the road has been increasing over the last few years, however, creating a greater demand for service work, and truck sales will begin to rebound as the economy improves, he says.


Its a good time for us to do this because were optimistic about the future, he says.


The dealership was started in 1961 as Spokane Freightliner Inc. Cook bought it in 1994 and changed its name to Freedom Truck Centers in 1999. He originally owned about 40 acres of land near the Medical Lake interchange, but two years ago sold part of it to Inland Power & Light Co., the Spokane-based electric cooperative, which now is building a new headquarters complex there.


Cook disclosed two years ago that he planned to develop a building on part of the land he owns near the Medical Lake interchange, but said the plans still were preliminary and that he hadnt decided on a timetable for the project.


There have been several waves of trucking-related real estate transactions near the Medical Lake interchange, mostly on the south side of the freeway, since about 1996. In the latest one two years ago, a Salina Kansas-based truck-wash chain, a Boise-based truck trailer company, and a Cayuga, Ind.-based truck quick lube chain all bought land there over a two-month span for planned facilities, and a large truck-stop complex also opened there in the fall of 2006.


A trio of other large distribution-related concernsTrans-System Inc., Jensen Distribution Services, and Aslin-Finch Feed Co.also have operations nearby on that side of the interchange.


Contact Kim Crompton at (509) 344-1263 or via e-mail at kimc@spokanejournal.com.