Work on the newest buildings in the fast-tracked Playfair Commerce Park is well underway.

L.B. Stone Properties Group LLC is building three new warehouses at the 58-acre site in East Spokane, as well as a 100,000-square-foot facility a couple of miles east of the complex. 

Construction on the first of the new buildings, which will occupy 75,000 square feet, was delayed because of weather conditions, says Nick Czapla, the company’s chief operating officer, but he anticipates the facility will be complete by early April.

According to city records, that building is located at 2720 E. Ferry, and has a total construction value of $3.9 million. 

Playfair is located east of Haven Street, between Ferry and Sprague avenues. 

The other two structures, which will include 105,000 and 54,000 square feet, respectively, were also delayed due to weather, but Czapla says he anticipates construction to be completed in September, only a month behind previous estimates.

Divcon Inc., of Spokane Valley, is the contractor on the project, which when complete, will have a total of roughly 190,000 square feet of space.

Czapla says the existing buildings in the complex are currently fully occupied.

When construction is finished, Playfair will have 12 industrial buildings totaling over 730,000 square feet.

Just over two miles east of Playfair Commerce Park, L.B. Stone Properties also is planning a 100,000-square-foot industrial building at the northeast corner of Sprague Avenue and Fancher Road. 

Czapla says the company is still in the planning stages for that facility, as the project has encountered several obstacles along the way, but he says the company fully intends to move forward with the project.

Czapla declines to disclose construction costs. The Journal previously reported that the total value of the four buildings is likely to exceed $15 million based on city records for similar-sized Playfair projects.

Just west of the Esmeralda Golf Course, in the Hillyard neighborhood, L.B. Stone also is planning a 500,000-square-foot commerce park tentatively named Esmeralda Commerce Park, which will have five or six buildings, he says.

Czapla says Spokane Valley-based Simpson Engineering Inc. currently is drawing up the civil designs for the roads and buildings, after which at least three bidding processes will be performed.

The first bid proposal will be for the road work, he says, the second will be for road and site work with drainage, and the third bid will be for the first Esmeralda building, which he says will be named Esmeralda Two, and will include 100,000 square feet of space.