Kent, Washington-based pipe valve and fitting manufacturer and retailer Puget Sound Pipe & Supply Co. plans to build a new, roughly 20,000-square-foot warehouse and office building on the West Plains to better serve customers in Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana, says Koltin Stratiner.

Stratiner, president of the 103-year-old family-owned company, says, “We see the trends of people moving out of the cities and spreading farther north, south, and east … we think that Spokane and the marketplace around Spokane is going to see substantial growth over the next five to 10 years.”

He adds, “Even with 2020 being a questionable year, the future still looks bright for that territory.”

The structure, to be located on about 4.57 acres of land on the southwest corner of Flint Road and U.S. 2, just north of the Spokane International Airport, will have about 16,000 square feet of warehouse space and another 4,000 of office space, Stratiner says.

The property also has an additional 3 acres set aside for outdoor pipe storage, he says.

The project cost estimate changes as designs are tweaked and the company weighs completing the project in phases, but it should be valued between $2.5 million and $4 million, Stratiner says.

The company likely won’t use the full building at the beginning, Stratiner explains, so it is considering completing the project in two phases.

The company plans to break ground on the project in early summer, with completion slated for the first quarter of 2021.

Upon opening the Spokane facility, the company, which has about 170 employees throughout its eight locations in Washington state and Alaska, plans to employ five to 10 people here. Stratiner adds he anticipates the company will employ upwards of 20 people at the Spokane facility once it’s running at capacity.

Puget Sound Pipe & Supply’s other Washington facilities are in Kennewick, Seattle, Vancouver, Burlington, and Kelso. Its Alaska operations are in Anchorage and Kenai.

The Spokane location will be the main supplier for the company’s customers in Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana, Stratiner adds.

Stratiner declines to disclose the company’s 2019 revenue, but says the company saw about 10% sales growth in 2019 compared with prior-year sales.

Spokane-based Fusion Architecture PLLC is designing the project, and Deacon Development LLC, of Portland, is the contractor. 

Puget Sound Pipe & Supply plans to use locally based subcontracting companies for the project, Stratiner asserts.

“For us, it’s important to support local. It always has been. Being a smaller, family-owned company, we understand what it’s like to be up against some of the headwinds of larger corporations,” he says. “Whenever we are coming into a new territory, we like to make sure that we’re supporting not only the local economy but also getting to know the local customers there and making sure to support the people who are working there already.” 

Stratiner adds, “We already work a fair amount with a lot of the local (subcontractors) in that area that are already doing work out of the Tri-Cities or in the ‘Tri-State’ area, and we’re looking forward to working with them and supporting them out of Spokane as well.”