Spokane-based Associated Painters Inc. has revived plans to build a second aircraft-painting hangar at Spokane International Airport and expects to grow its total workforce here to 100 employees next spring, says Reed Friese, the company's general manager.

Associated Painters has leased space for the hangar project near its current facilities at the airport, and the company has requested permits to conduct preliminary site work and construct footings and foundations for a 32,000-square-foot, $5.5 million structure, he says.

Friese estimates the company will hire about 30 employees at the new hangar for production that's scheduled to start in April. Associated Painters currently employs 70 people here, up from 52 a year ago, he says.

Building permit application information on file with the city of Spokane describes the project as Associated Painters Boeing Paint Hangar, but Friese declines to disclose the customer information or contract details that led the company to revisit the second-hangar project, except to say, "We will be painting Boeing-model airplanes," he says.

Work at the second hangar likely will reach capacity within a year of production, which will require the company to ramp the workforce up to 50 employees there, Friese says.

The building permit requests were under plan review by the city of Spokane as of Monday, and Friese says he expects the initial permits for the project will be issued this week.

Associated Painters, which paints, strips, and refinishes aircraft at four facilities for commercial airlines, aerospace manufacturers, the U.S. Department of Defense, and private aircraft owners, currently occupies 41,400 square feet of hangar space here at 8510 W. Electric, on the south edge of the airport. It also occupies 2,500 square feet of temporary office space in an airport building near the hangar.

The new hangar will be constructed on vacant land just east of its present facility, along an aircraft ramp west of the air traffic control tower, the building permit information shows.

The structure will have one large painting bay, Friese says. It also will include 2,800 square feet of office space into which the company's current offices will move.

Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, will be the contractor on the project, and Bernardo|Wills Architects PC, also of Spokane, designed it. The Spokane office of Coffman Engineers Inc. is providing engineering services for the project.

The Spokane Airport Board last week approved the land-lease agreement with Associated Painters for 1.6 acres of vacant land and adjacent aircraft ramp space totaling another 1.6 acres, says Todd Woodard, an airport Spokesman. The lease includes 40 parking stalls in an adjacent lot.

The lease carries a term of 30 years with a 20-year option, airport records show. Starting no later than May 1, the annual rent will be $22,253 and then will be adjusted every five years to reflect the fair-market rent for the improvements and the property, the records show.

The lease includes most of the same space for which RND LLC, of Spokane, an affiliate of Associated Painters, canceled a land lease earlier this year, where the company had previously announced plans to build a 55,200-square-foot, $8 million facility. At the time, the airport board said RND cited an inability to meet Associated Painters' construction schedule as the reason for shelving the project and canceling the lease. The cancellation occurred shortly after Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Leading Edge Aviation Services Inc., also a Boeing-approved aircraft painter, acquired Associated Painters.

Associated Painters is operating at capacity at its current Spokane facility, where it paints about 125 Boeing jetliners a year for Southwest Airlines Co., the Dallas-based air carrier, Friese says.

Southwest Airlines is updating its fleet and will be the first airline to receive Boeing's next major upgrade in its 737 line of jetliners—the 737 MAX, Boeing's website says.

The 737 MAX is expected to burn 13 percent less fuel than the most fuel-efficient, single-aisle commercial airliners flying today, the website says. Boeing also claims it has secured more than 1,000 orders for the 737 MAX aircraft, the first of which the aircraft maker is scheduled to deliver in 2017.

Associated Painters opened its facility at Spokane International Airport in 2010 and moved its headquarters here from Everett, Wash., where it continues to operate a painting facility that Friese says will paint about 40 aircraft next year. The company also operates aircraft-painting facilities in Oklahoma and Florida.