At least $577 million in Spokane County manufacturing facility investments, developments, and expansions are planned, underway, or have wrapped up since July by major regional employers including Kaiser Aluminum Corp., Jubilant HollisterStier LLC, and Solstice Advanced Materials Inc.

The cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley saw more than half a billion dollars in outside investments in Inland Northwest manufacturing and distribution plant facilities in the last six months as the area’s importance to manufacturers continues to grow.

“With those investments, one of the biggest takeaways is that it’s compounding,” says Joey Gunning, director of economic development at Greater Spokane Incorporated. “When (a company) sees one investment, then another one's like, ‘Maybe Spokane is a good place to grow. Maybe we should invest there too.’”

The manufacturing industry is the fifth largest employment sector in Spokane County, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by Spokane Trends, a local data trend website published by the Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis at Eastern Washington University. Manufacturing jobs in Spokane have grown 16% since 2010, compared to 12.4% growth nationally, according to data provided by GSI.

Companies producing goods in the Spokane area manufacture aerospace parts and materials, medical products, wood and metal building products, and more, and several manufacturers produce multiple different products, Gunning adds.

“Manufacturing is definitely one of Spokane’s largest industries,” Gunning says. “You never really see this huge boom in growth, but it seems to be steady growth.”

The largest investment, previously reported by the Journal, is Jubilant HollisterStier’s $285 million expansion of its Spokane production facility at 3525 N. Regal. The manufacturing plant’s third pharmaceutical sterile fill-finish line began commercial production at the beginning of October. A second, 160,000-square-foot expansion for a fourth production line is currently underway and is expected to be completed in 2026.

 Jubilant HollisterStier is a subsidiary of Jubilant Pharma Holding Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of India-based Jubilant Pharmova Limited.

Washington state is not an incentive-rich state, Gunning contends, but associate development organizations such as GSI help connect manufacturers to existing Washington state tax exemptions, grants, and other resources available on both the State and regional level.

“We're seeing (Washington state) prioritizing growth in manufacturing, and a lot of those grant programs go through or are administered by GSI,” he says. “So if I'm a manufacturing business looking to grow or looking to get connected to those resources, going through GSI is the best way to do that.”

Washington state has a manufacturer’s sales/use tax exemption for machinery and equipment for manufacturing facility improvements and is one of the main incentives that companies are eligible for, Gunning says.

Other incentives include the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Evergreen Manufacturing grant program, which has awarded $2 million to manufacturing companies last year, and the Governor’s Economic Development Strategic Reserve Fund, he says.

Another manufacturing investment reported by the Journal — a $30 million expansion at Mercer Mass Timber LLC’s Spokane Valley facility — was awarded $250,000 from the Governor’s Economic Development Strategic Reserve Fund in October. The award was administered through Greater Spokane Inc.

The mass timber facility, located at 19202 E. Garland, will receive new assembly line infrastructure paid for in part by the October award, says Gunning, adding that the award helps to incentivize manufacturers to keep operations in Washington state.

Mercer Mass Timber is a subsidiary of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Mercer International Inc.

Other recent investments include a sales and distribution facility expansion for Draper, Utah-based Swire Pacific Holdings Inc., which does business as Swire Coca-Cola USA, at 9705 E. Montgomery, in Spokane Valley. The expansion is valued at $22.4 million, Erica Hansen, senior manager of external communications for Swire, previously told the Journal.

Construction began in July 2024 and was completed in October. The facility was expanded from about 39,000 square feet to 102,000 square feet and now features 100% LED lighting, a 200-kilowatt rooftop solar power system, and widened loading docks and aisles, Hansen says.

Both distributors and manufacturers have selected the Spokane area for their regional plants due to the area’s proximity to Seattle and Interstate 90, Gunning says.

“Our location is very strategic for manufacturers who are shipping to Seattle. We can get to the Port of Seattle much quicker than if you're in Idaho and the workforce here, with our college system and universities, makes it easier to find talent,” says Gunning.

Also in Spokane Valley, Kaiser Aluminum Corp. completed a $25 million expansion of its rolling mill at 15000 E. Euclid in October, the Journal reported. The Tennessee-based manufacturer has poured $415 million into the plant over the past two decades. Its most recent project focused on the seventh phase of expansion since 2005.

Other manufacturing investments are planned to begin in 2026 and 2027. A former Honeywell Electronic Materials Inc. plant, now owned by Solstice Advanced Materials Inc. after the company spun off from Honeywell International Inc., is proposed to be updated in 2027, the Journal previously reported.

The new price tag for the capital improvements is $214 million, according to a press release from the company. The broader scope of the project includes new production lines and facility modernization work.

The city of Spokane Valley has issued a mitigated determination of nonsignificance on Nov. 21 and a groundbreaking event for the project was held Dec. 2.

Seattle-based Darigold Inc.’s Spokane plant adds to the list of facility investments by manufacturers here. Upgrades envisioned for the dairy processing plant, located at 33 E. Francis, include the installation of five new 60,000-gallon raw milk tank silos, two new 10,000-gallon raw milk tank silos, and an adjacent equipment support room, the Journal previously reported.

The cost of the project is unknown, but the installation of the two 60,000-gallon tanks is valued at $1 million, permit information with the city of Spokane shows.

Investments into manufacturing facilities are supporting outside money and jobs being brought into the Spokane economy as companies ship parts and products nationally and internationally, Gunning adds.

“Manufacturing brings in outside dollars to the community and that’s huge for a community. To see continued growth, you need to see that job creation,” he says. “At the core of economic development is job creation.”