RnR RV Center has bought 3 1/2 acres of land just west of its dealership in Liberty Lake and has broken ground on a $2.9 million expansion there.


Ray Bunney, president of RnR RV, says the expansion involves constructing a 20-bay, 24,000-square-foot service building thats similar in size and design to the dealerships current service structure. Also, he says, the remaining newly acquired land around the new structure will be paved for additional vehicle storage and employee parking.


Work on the structure started late last month, and the building is scheduled to be completed by year-end, Bunney says. Baker Construction & Development Corp., of Spokane, is the design-build contractor on the project.


RnR RV is located at 23203 E. Knox, along the south side of Interstate 90. When the expansion is completed, the dealership will have three buildings with a total of about 63,000 square feet of floor space on 15 1/2 acres of land.


The dealership moved to the Liberty Lake location in 2001 from smaller quarters along Sprague Avenue, near the Sprague-Vista Road intersection, and built its first service building at Liberty Lake in 2002. Bunney says he initially hadnt planned to build a second service building there. We didnt expect to be this busy in service this fast, he says.


R&R RV currently employs 65 people and expects to add 15 more workers in the next 1 1/2 years, Bunney says. He says the dealership sold about 700 new and used RVs last year and expects to sell closer to 800 vehicles this year.


The trend is up slightly industrywide despite high gasoline prices, he says. Our customers are camping closer to home, but they are still camping.


RnR RV started in 1991 after Bunney and partners acquired the former McCollum RV operation. The dealership sells a number of sizes and makes of RVs, including Winnebago, Fleetwood, Keystone, Snowriver, and others.