The Washington state Department of Transportation wants to exchange a parcel of land on Spokanes North Side that has strong development potential for construction of a building in the Spokane Valley and for a project north of Spokane.


The proposed swap is what the DOT refers to as an equivalent value exchange, or even trade. It would be the first such transaction conducted by the state agency in the Spokane area, says Al Gilson, the DOTs eastern region spokesman.


The DOT is offering up a 3.5-acre plot of land and small storage building it owns at the southeast corner of North Foothills Drive and Ruby Street, which is on the busy northbound portion of the Division Street-Ruby Street couplet. That parcel is surrounded by businesses and lends itself well to commercial development, Gilson says. The site currently is zoned M-1, or light industrial, which allows for a wide range of commercial and industrial uses.


In exchange for that property, the DOT wants the other party in the swap to build a new, 7,500-square-foot signal and electric shop building at its maintenance facility on Montgomery Drive, near the Interstate 90-Pines Road interchange, in the Spokane Valley.


Also, as part of the exchange, the DOT requires site work for a future maintenance facility along Hatch Road north of Spokane.


The DOT says it will receive contact information from interested parties until April 30 and hopes to reach an exchange agreement by June 15 and to have construction work on the signal shop completed in early November.