Western States Construction Inc., of Valleyford, Wash., is replacing both the east and west annexes of the Agriculture A Building at the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center. The two wings collapsed in December under the weight of record snows.

Mertz Wuts, project architect at ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, says Western States' winning bid of $307,000 was about half the engineer's estimate of $609,000. ALSC designed the project.

"Snow load caused the damage," Wuts says. The collapse was one of many in the Spokane area, as record snows this past winter weighed down the roofs of many structures.

Work has started on the reconstruction project, at 404 N. Havana, and is scheduled to be complete by July, Wuts says. The Agriculture A Building is on the north end of the fairgrounds along Broadway Avenue.

The main building has about 11,230 square feet of floor space, and each of its two annexes will have about 2,730 square feet, giving the complex a total of more than 16,500 square feet, he says. The two older annexes were removed and temporary repairs were made to the main building by Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, in January under a separate $189,000 contract.

The annexes will "be built back to the exact same size," he says. "That's what the insurance will pay for."

The construction consists of steel frame, roofing, and siding.

It also includes mechanical and electrical work, and fire sprinkler system installation.