Downtown Toyota/Scion has applied for building permits for a $4 million construction project that would make up the second and third phases of improvements planned at the dealership at 1208 W. Third Avenue.

The project would include construction of a 13,500-square-foot, two-story addition that would connect the 20,000-square-foot showroom facility on the east side of the dealership and a service building on its west side, documents on file with the city show. The work also would include remodeling the dealership's new-car showroom facility and its adjoining 4,300-square-foot parts department and building a 20-foot-long skywalk over a vacated alley to connect the planned addition to another service building that faces Second Avenue.

Dealership owner David Coombs couldn't be reached for comment.

Garco Construction, Inc., of Spokane, is listed as the contractor on the design-build project, which the application says would start as soon as possible.

The earlier completed first phase of the three-phase project included an exterior remodel of the Second Avenue service building, which Garco did last year.

With the addition planned between the service and showroom facilities facing Third Avenue, the structures would have the appearance from Third of a single building that sits between Jefferson and Adams streets, the plans show. The first floor of the addition would have seven service bays, and the second floor would house administrative offices, a conference room, a lunch room, and a storage area, drawings indicate.

In the showroom facility, the remodeling portion of the project would include updates to the waiting, cashier, customer relations, and office areas, the plans show.

The project follows a new design scheme that Toyota Motor Corp., is urging all of its dealers to use, the automaker's Web site says.

Another Toyota dealer, Parker Toyota, in Coeur d'Alene, is also in the middle of a $4 million construction project. That project will include construction of a new 30,000-square-foot service area and a 30,000-square-foot showroom at the dealership at the northwest corner of Kathleen Avenue and U.S. 95.