Hewes Marine Co., a Colville, Wash., aluminum-boat manufacturer that employs more than 100 workers, plans to begin construction next summer on a 15,000-square-foot addition to the larger of its two buildings to increase its production capacity.


The city of Colville will extend sewer and water services to the company to make the expansion feasible and also will annex the Hewes Marine complex and some other property, says Paul Wade, general manager of the company.


We will easily be able to add 33 new jobs within the next three years, says Wade. Although he declines to disclose the number of boats the company sells, Wade asserts that the expansion will give the 57-year-old manufacturer the ability to boost production of its smallest, 16-foot boats by 50 percent, and its largest, 26-foot boats by more than 200 percent.


The business is growing rapidly, Wade says. Without disclosing revenue figures, he says that in the last two years, Hewes Marine has increased its production by 50 percent, its revenue by 100 percent, and its payroll to about 110 workers from about 80.


The expansion will be of its 40,000-square-foot fabrication building and, once a bid is awarded, would take about three months to build, says Wade. He anticipates that another 10,000 square feet of space will be added to the 15,000-square-foot expansion within the next one to two years, depending on demand for the companys boats.


The cost of the first expansion will be about $500,000, and the cost of the envisioned second expansion would be another about $300,000, Wade says.


The current operation includes a 5,000-square-foot building as well.


Without motors or other amenities, the companys boats range in price from $10,000 to $30,000, Wade says.


Hewes Marines property needed to be annexed to the city of Colville so it would have sufficient water and sewer capacity to support its expansion, Wade says. The project will require a 4,000-foot extension of city sewer and water lines to reach the companys plant.


Without the hookup to city services, we dont have sufficient water to meet code sprinkling requirements for the additional building space, says Wade.


Most of the final money needed to support the citys $1.2 million infrastructure expansion came in recently in the form of a state Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) grant of about $149,000 and a $381,000 loan from CERB. Hewes Marine has agreed to repay $50,000 of the loan, although repayment of $331,000 of the loan still must be negotiated.


Its pretty much 95 percent a done deal, says Wade. Im very optimistic, but we dont have the signatures yet.


City Engineer Mark Freiberger explains that an individual owns land near Hewes Marine that the city of Colville annexed earlier with the stipulation that the land couldnt be subdivided or sold until city sewer and water service was in place.


He says the cost to provide water and sewer to that parcel would be significantly reduced if it were done when sewer and water were extended to Hewes Marine. Freiberger said he expects that landowner will assume responsibility to pay the $331,000 balance of the CERB loan.


In addition to Hewes Marines 10-acre site, another 30 acres would be annexed into the city under the current plan, Freiberger says.


About 1,600 feet of the sewer and water service extension will take place within the current city limits and will be funded by the CERB loan and grant, while the work beyond the city limits will be financed by Stevens County, Hewes Marine, and an about $570,000 state community development block grant, Freiberger says.


He says bids for the project will go out in the late spring, and work can easily be completed in three months, barring the unforeseen.