Coeur d’Alene Tractor Co., which does business as Adams Tractor of Spokane, is considering development of a $6 million facility on the West Plains to replace a smaller leased facility near Spokane's University District, says general manager Matt Adams. 

After a 45-day due diligence period ending in September, the company will decide if relocating its Trent store to a new facility in west Spokane is the best move for the business, Adams says. 

"We've been on Trent for the better half of 90 years ... and the location is restricting the company's growth potential," he says, explaining that development has evolved around the 1.9-acre facility at 1602 E. Trent and is impacting accessibility for customers and equipment deliveries. Additionally, crime has increased in that neighborhood, he asserts, including vandalism, equipment theft, and employee harassment. 

The proposed Adams Tractor facility on the West Plains, which would be located at 8217 W. Highway 2, in west Spokane,  has about 9 acres of vacant land zoned for light industrial use. 

"It will quadruple the size of the company if we relocate," he says. 

The company's Spokane store has about 15 employees now. Relocating from Trent to Highway 2 would allow the company to add more technicians, hold more machinery, add new types of machinery to its inventory, and grow in new markets, Adams says.

Preliminary designs call for a 28,400-square-foot tractor equipment sales and repair facility with multiple outdoor display areas south of the highway, according to pre-development permit information on file with the city of Spokane. 

Interior spaces planned at the facility include about 800 square feet of offices, over 700 square feet of customer service and reception areas, a 4,500-square-foot showroom, and about 2,400 square feet of parts storage space. 

Additionally, the new store will have an 8,700-square-foot service shop, 13 service bays with over 6,100 square feet of workspace, and a 700-square-foot wash bay. 

Employee areas will include a breakroom, conference room, and locker rooms, early site plans on file with the city of Spokane show. 

Outside of the planned tractor center, design plans show five exterior display areas on the property, over 45 parking stalls, and a designated area for a future 15,000-square-foot building behind the facility.

Preliminary site plans for the project were designed by Minnesota-based ISG Inc. Adams says those designs for the new space are still in progress.

Coeur d'Alene Tractor's flagship store is a 4-acre site, located at 1112 W. Appleway, in Coeur d'Alene. The store is operating at capacity, Adams says.

If the West Plains store moves forward, the new facility could be a central delivery facility for the company's five locations. It would free up space in North Idaho, be more cost efficient for equipment deliveries, and also save time with its capacity for onsite equipment assembly. Those savings would eventually be passed along to customers, he adds.

"It's exciting and scary to take a risk for a better future for the company," Adams says.

Last year, the company opened an Adams Tractor store in Colville, Washington, in an old LaDuke & Fogle Equipment Inc. building, as previously reported in the Journal.

In addition to its facilities in Collville, Coeur d'Alene, and Spokane, the company has stores located in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Lewiston, Idaho.

The retailer was founded in 1929, by Adams' great-great grandfather Don Adams. The company carries tractors and lawn and garden equipment for residential, commercial, and farming use. Represented brands include Kubota Tractor Corp., Land Pride Inc., Hustler Turf Equipment Inc., Gravely Co., Briggs & Stratton LLC, Ariens Co., Walker, and others, according to the company's website.

Project updates:

*A new optometry clinic is opening this week in Spokane Valley, dubbed Frontline Vision LLC. 

Dr. Kalina Harrell, optometrist and owner of the new vision clinic, is leasing 1,500 square feet of space in a 7,000-square-foot multitenant strip mall anchored by a Domino's Pizza restaurant, at 604 S. Sullivan Road, in Spokane Valley.

Robyn Harrell, office manager at Frontline and Kalina Harrell's mother, says tenant improvements worth about $185,000 are nearly complete. 

Renovations involved the creation of a reception area, an examination room, and space for a future exam room, a lab space for lens adjustments, a contact lens practice room, and the installation of new exam equipment and other eye care machines. Additionally, there's a staff breakroom and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bathrooms, she says.

"We have an Optos, where you stare at a dot and when the dot turns green, it takes a picture of the back of your eye, so we never have to dilate you," Harrell says. "It makes it so much better for people that they don't have to hang around and wait for their dilation to go away. And we keep their photo on file from year to year to see what's changing."

The design-build team for the tenant improvement project was comprised of Russell C. Page Architects PS, of Spokane Valley, and Onward Construction LLC, of Spokane.

The company's name is a nod to the optometrist's specialization in frontal eye care, explains Harrell.

"Her specialties are dry eye, specialty contact lenses, and myopia control (for children)," she says.

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a prevalent condition in which the shape of the eye grows in an oval shape from front to back instead of an overall rounded eye shape.

"Nowadays, kids are on screens ... so what's happening is their eyes aren't growing round, they're growing forward," she explains. "It makes it harder for them to see far away so they typically need glasses that need to be changed every year."

Harrell says Frontline will offer an FDA-approved special contact lens for myopia control that helps correct the shape of a child's eye.

While the company will specialize in some children's vision conditions, Frontline's services are for the whole family, she contends.

In the next 12 months, Harrell says Frontline will focus on growing the business by increasing patients and doubling staff.

"We're really hoping that she'll have the second exam room next year," she says. "All we need is to put the chair in there." 

*Spokane County has been awarded $4.5 million in federal funding for the Four Lakes Interchange Project. The funding is part of the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Funding will be allocated for an interchange access revision report, preliminary planning and engineering, environmental review, design, and right-of-way acquisition for the interchange revision.