The U.S. Forest Service plans to construct a new office for its Sandpoint Ranger District on Forest Service property at 1602 Ontario, in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Swank Enterprises, of Kalispell, Mont., has been awarded a $3.1 million contract to construct the single-story, 13,400-square-foot structure.

It will be located adjacent to the district's current Sandpoint work center, which consists of several buildings and is used primarily for storage of vehicles and equipment.

The project also includes demolition of a communications tower there and construction of a new steel communications tower at the site.

The Forest Service expects work on the project to begin within a month and to be completed early in 2010.

The new office is being constructed following Bonner County and the Panhandle Area Council's acquisition in the spring of 2007 of the 39,000-square-foot U.S. Federal Building, which housed the Forest Service's Sandpoint office. Idaho Panhandle National Forests spokeswoman Gail Aschenbrenner West says that building was too large and costly for the Forest Service's current needs.