Salt Lake City-based Kenworth Sales Co., a commercial truck sale and service company, plans to build a new facility on the West Plains, says company President Kyle Treadway. 

The envisioned 60,000-square-foot facility is to be built at 9010 W. Geiger Blvd., south of the Spokane International Airport, where it will move its Spokane operations from its current 44,000-square-foot location at 6420 E. Broadway, in Spokane Valley. 

Treadway puts the total construction cost of the project in the ballpark of $15 million, adding that tariffs and a hot economy have driven construction costs up about 15% over the past few years.

The planned new location is just west of South Thomas Mallen Road and is within the West Plains-Airport Area Public Development Authority’s more than 9,250-acre boundary that surrounds the airport. 

All of Kenworth’s Spokane-area employees will relocate to the new facility, he says, and the company plans to hire at least 20 additional employees at the new facility. 

Treadway estimates Kenworth has about 50 employees in Spokane. 

The new structure will be located on about 10 acres of land the company purchased in January for about $3 million, according to the Spokane County Assessor’s Office.  

Treadway adds that the company purchased enough land to be able to expand in the future and says the company’s intention is to eventually double its Spokane-area operations. 

The two-story facility will have office, sales, and warehouse spaces for parts and truck sales and maintenance, an on-site fueling area, and parking, he says. 

The organization is still in the early design phase, Treadway says, but he expects to break ground in February and end construction before the end of the year. 

Idaho Falls-based NBW Architects PS is designing the facility. Treadway says a contractor has yet to be selected.

The company has submitted a pre-development application to Spokane County and must gain approval from the county, the Spokane International Airport, and Fairchild Air Force Base before moving forward, according to the plans. 

Treadway says that NBW Architects has designed the majority of Kenworth’s ongoing expansion or relocation projects. 

He adds that Kenworth has been expanding its operations across the states it services due to explosive growth in the trucking industry, and currently has about 40 openings across all 22 locations. The company has been systematically expanding or building new facilities at all of its locations, he says.

Treadway contends that the industry is cyclical and has hit its peak, leading to expansions by several trucking companies to meet the demand. He attributes this increase to the booming economy and changes in technology regarding fuel economy and emissions. 

He adds that truck sales across the industry have increased by about 30% over the last year. 

Kenworth has 22 locations across seven states, including Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming, and has about 800 total employees.