Phones Plus Inc., a Coeur d'Alene-based Verizon wireless telephone and service retailer, plans to develop a new headquarters building in Post Falls.
The company also plans to open a new store in southwest Oregon, its 12th retail outlet overall, says Chris Cheeley, owner and president of Phones Plus.
Cheeley says Phones Plus has bought property at the southeast corner of Herborn Place and Seltice Way, in east Post Falls, where it plans to erect a two-story, 6,000-square-foot building.
He says he'll select a contractor later this month, and work on the project will begin in July. Wolfe Architectural Group PS, of Spokane, designed the building, which Cheeley says is scheduled to be completed in November. He declines to disclose the project cost.
Cheeley says a Phones Plus retail store will occupy the ground floor and the company's nine-person administrative staff will occupy the upper floor of the planned headquarters building.
The company's headquarters now are located at the southwest corner of Hanley Avenue and U.S. 95, in north Coeur d'Alene, although its administrative personnel are spread between that location and its retail stores at 1700 Northwest Blvd, in Coeur d'Alene, and at 3904 E. Mullan, in Post Falls.
Phones Plus employs 65 people companywide. Retail stores employ an average of five people each, Cheeley says.
Phones Plus plans to begin construction of a 2,500-square-foot retail store in Medford, Ore., in late summer, and that store is expected to open next January or February, he says.
Wolfe Architectural Group also designed that project, and Cheeley says Phones Plus likely will select a contractor from the Medford area within 60 days.
Cheeley founded Phones Plus in 1990. In 2003, the company sold the business-sales side of its operations to concentrate on becoming a mobile phone and service retailer. Since then, the company has enjoyed steady growth, he says. Its newest stores, both in Central Washington, opened in Wenatchee and Moses Lake last November. Phones Plus also operates an outlet in Lewiston, Idaho, and five stores in Oregon.