Medford, Ore.-based Lithia Motors Inc. says it has started work on a new building in Liberty Lake for its Mercedes-Benz dealership here.


The dealership chain, which owns Spokanes Camp Automotive Inc., is building the roughly 45,000-square-foot structure on a 7-acre site just east of the Porsche of Spokane dealership, which is northwest of the Interstate 90-Harvard Road interchange, says Eric Iversen, a project manager at Lithia Motors. The facility will occupy nearly 5 acres at the site, which Lithia bought in 2006. The company is reserving the rest of the property for future development, which could involve another dealership or some other non-automobile-related use, Iversen says.


Lithia currently operates its Mercedes dealership in a leased facility at 1027 W. Third. It plans to close that location and move its employees there to the new facility, he says. Iversen doesnt know exactly how many people the new facility will employ, but says that Lithias dealerships typically employ about 100 people.


Site work on the project started last month, and the dealership is expected to open by November, he says. Spokane-based Garco Construction Inc. is the contractor on the project, and Boise-based CSHQA designed it. Iversen declines to disclose an estimated cost of the project.


Lithia decided to build the new facility, which is significantly larger than the space it has now, because of the dealerships current and projected growth here, he says. It chose the site in Liberty Lake because of that areas growth and because of its visibility from I-90 and its proximity to other nearby auto dealerships, he says.


Were anticipating future growth in what we believe is a high-growth area that attracts people from Coeur dAlene and Spokane and places in between, he says.


In 2005, Lithia said it planned to move its Mercedes dealership to a site on North Foothills Drive, a couple of blocks northeast of Lithias Camp Chevrolet Cadillac and Camp Imports stores. It planned to demolish a former State Farm Insurance Co. building on that site, and develop a new facility there. Iversen says the company now is reserving that site for future development, but doesnt have immediate plans for the property.


Lithia bought the Mercedes dealership from Spokane-based Sutherland Motors Ltd. in 2003. The Oregon company has more than 97 dealerships in 13 states in the western U.S., its Web site says.