Communications business expands

Industrial Communications Inc., a two-way communications sales and service business based in Spokane Valley, says it has acquired the assets of CT Electronics, an Electric City, Wash.- based sole proprietorship, for $15,000.  

The assets include CT Electronics’ customer list, contracts, testing equipment, and parts inventory, says Scott Grimmet, owner of Industrial Communications. 

The companies finalized the acquisition in late February, Grimmet says. CT Electronics’ owner, Claude Tiede, who is its sole employee, will continue to operate the business out of its current location, Grimmet says. Tiede will be working under the leadership of Industrial Communications, which occupies a 7,500-square-foot space at 16610 E. Sprague.

Grimmet says Tiede has been in the communications sales and service business for more than 40 years.

Industrial Communications provides communications equipment, such as radios, antennas, and satellite phones, to businesses in the commercial, industrial, public safety, and learning sectors. It also provides installation, maintenance, and repair services. 

The company, which also has a sales office in Boise with one employee, was founded in 1965, and Grimmet bought it in 2008. It employs about 15 people here, Grimmet says, and sometimes hires temporary workers. 

Prior to the acquisition, CT Electronics offered similar services and products, Grimmet says. He says Industrial Communications made the acquisition to expand its territory and also to more easily serve its clients in the Colville Reservation, Okanogan Forest, and Grand Coulee areas.

“There’s a lot of opportunity in that basin area; a lot of the counties and the tribes don’t have anyone local to take care of them,” he says. “Someone has to come out of Moses Lake, Wenatchee, or Spokane. There’s no technicians close. Everybody going has a two-hour drive time before they can start work, minimum.”

Grimmet says the company has seen a growing interest in the Grand Coulee area and felt the time was right to have an outpost there. 

“It fills the need in that area,” he says. “It’s an area that we’ve been getting more and more people wanting us to do work, but getting a technician out there is time-consuming.”

—Katie Ross

 

New Dutch Bros.  opens on Francis

GTG Ventures, LLC, a Spokane-based Dutch Bros. Coffee franchisee owned by Washington state Rep. Kevin Parker and his wife, Kerry, has opened a new stand at the northwest corner of Francis Avenue and Nevada Street. 

The new location is GTG Ventures’ sixth Dutch Bros. location. Overall, Dutch Bros. Coffee franchisees now operate 23 stands statewide. 

In total, Dutch Bros. Coffee stands owned and operated by GTG Ventures employ 60 people in the Spokane area. The stands serve specialty coffee drinks, smoothies, teas, and a private label energy drink, Blue Rebel.

Founded in 1992 in Grants Pass, Ore., Dutch Bros. claims to be the nation’s largest privately held drive-thru coffee company. All 200 locations across seven states are franchise operations. 

GTG Ventures opened its first Dutch Bros. in May of 2006 at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Washington Street. Its other Dutch Bros. Coffee stands are located at 1306 N. Division, north of downtown; 1010 W. Francis, on Spokane’s North Side; 402 S. Freya, in East Spokane; and 8701 N. Division, near Whitworth University.

—Lucas Thayer

Asbestos abatement veterans open shop

Two veterans of the asbestos-removal industry have started a new business, ESP Asbestos Abatement Inc., in Post Falls.

The company, formed in January, employs eight full-time workers in addition to three owners, and is located in a leased, 2,000-square-foot building at 846 N. Boulder Court. That facility houses the company’s main offices as well as its five trucks and two trailers. 

“We wanted our business somewhere close to home where we could fuel up and jump right on the highway,” says Eric Quist, one of the company’s owners. “A place like that is hard to find in Spokane.”

Quist, Sam Wannamaker, and Peter Boeck own ESP Asbestos Abatement; in this instance, ESP stands for Eric, Sam, and Peter. Quist and Wannamaker have nearly 40 years of combined experience in asbestos abatement and removal from residential, retail, commercial, and industrial properties. Boeck, Quist’s longtime friend, helps to run day-to-day operations. 

The company is licensed for asbestos abatement in both Washington and Idaho, with a license pending in California. It also is licensed for the inspection and removal of mold, mercury, lead paint, and bird roosts. 

Both Wannamaker and Quist also have worked on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-designated Super Fund site cleanups in Libby, Mont., and Bunker Hill, Idaho.

—Lucas Thayer

 

Billing concern buys building, plans move

Spokane-based Consolidated Billing Services Inc., which provides financial management and billing services to long-term care providers, has bought a building in Millwood and plans to move there from a smaller, leased space in Spokane Valley, says company President Bill Ulrich.

The company purchased the 8,400-square-foot structure at 1908 N. Dale Road from Cliff and Sandra Helm for about $890,000 and anticipates moving into it on May 1, Ulrich says. Craig Hunter and Rob Kannapien, of Coldwell Banker Commercial Schneidmiller Realty, handled the transaction, which was completed on Feb. 28. 

It currently occupies 3,400 square feet of leased space in the Tapio Center, at 104 E. Freya.

Ulrich says the company has been contemplating this move to a building it would own for a while.

“It’s been part of our business plan to be in a space that we own,” Ulrich says. “After an exhausting search, this is the space that met our needs.”

The building on Dale Road has about 8,400 square feet of floor space, Ulrich says. Consolidated Billing, which employs 14 people here, will occupy most of it, but plans to make 3,000 square feet of space there available for lease, he says. 

Ulrich started the company in 1998 and initially operated it out of his home. He says he moved the business to the Tapio Center in 2005.

Now, he says, “We’ve got more space, so we’ll have room for additional employees. There’ll be some expansion there. How much and how quickly depends on the long-term care business.”

—Katie Ross