Two Kootenai County companies, Bella Granite & Marble Inc. and Quality Stoves & Pellets Inc., plan to move their operations to separate new buildings they will construct in the Interstate Business Park, on the north side of Interstate 90 in Post Falls.


Bella Granite & Marble, of Hayden, broke ground last week on a 10,800-square-foot showroom and fabrication plant at 1855 Polston, just north of Beaudry Motorsports new building, says Leah Terrell, who owns Bella Granite with her husband, Paul. The total value of Bella Granites project, including the cost of the site, is $600,000, Leah Terrell says.


Meanwhile, Quality Stoves & Pellets, of Coeur dAlene, will break ground soon on a 5,500-square-foot facility at 1835 Edmonton, says that companys owner, Jeff Barnhart. Qualitys site is next to Beaudry Motorsports, and its new building will face Interstate 90, as Beaudry Motorsports does.


Spokane Structures is designing and will build Quality Stoves $300,000 structure, which will be several thousand square feet larger than the companys current quarters at 100 W. Prairie, Barnhart says.


Quality Stoves, which has been in business for 12 years, carries gas and pellet stoves, patio furniture, and barbecues, he says. The company employs five people, and likely will be hiring more staff members after it moves into its new quarters at the end of August, he says.


Bella Granite & Marbles new facility is being erected by Creekside Construction LLC, of Hayden. The building was designed by Scott D. Cranston, AIA, of Coeur dAlene. Terrell says Quality Stoves hopes to move to its new building in mid-September from its current 4,000-square-foot quarters at 20525 N. Highway 95, in Hayden.


Bella fabricates countertops, fireplace surrounds, tables, and other products out of slabs of granite and marble for residential and commercial construction projects, Terrell says. Right now, for example, Bella is producing replacement stair treads for Lewis & Clark High School, in Spokane, which is undergoing a major renovation. Bella also provided granite countertops for the Nordstrom Caf at River Park Square and bathroom vanity tops and bar tops for 108 guest rooms in a recent remodeling project at the Coeur dAlene Resort, she says.


To do all of its custom marble and granite work, Bella starts with a wooden template, much like a dress pattern, Terrell explains. Craftsmen lay that template over a slab of stone and cut the stone to fit the pattern. They then polish the stone by hand, she says.


The company has ordered a second large cutting saw that it will install in its new facility, she says. It also will have a showroom, a model kitchen, and room for about 500 slabs of raw granite.


The company, which employs 15 people, has been located in Hayden since late 1996. Prior to that, it was located in Big Fork, Mont., where it was known as Big Sky Stone & Wood.