The West Plains-Airport Area Public Development Authority has ditched its mouthful of a name and rebranded to S3R3 Solutions.

S3 represents the three entities involved in the partnership — Spokane County, the city of Spokane, and the Spokane International Airport, says County Commissioner Al French, who also is the chairman of the PDA board. R3 represents the three methods of transportation available within the public authority area — road, rail, and runway.

French says, “A lot of folks don’t really understand what a public development authority is, and so we wanted to brand ourselves so … our name is more reflective of what it is we do.”

The team wanted to highlight the partnership between the three public entities and the three modes of product transportation in and out of the area, says Greg Birchell, board member of the authority and principal at BHW1 Advertising, of Spokane.

“We thought, what if somehow our name could nod to those two strong points,” Birchell says. “We’re branding the West Plains-Airport Area Public Development Authority. That’s a very long name, and so that process led us into this option.” 

The organization is also marketing to companies outside the region and the U.S., so having a name that includes location information was important, Birchell adds.

Gerry Gemmill, CEO of Spokane County and PDA board member, says, “What we’ve found is that when you get a group of entities together and you quit worrying about jurisdiction … you can get things done in a relatively short period of time, and that’s what we want to market. We’ve got the folks here that represent the players, and we have solutions to help you get where you need to go.”

The public development authority was formed in 2017 to target manufacturing, aerospace, and distribution development in an effort to grow and expand jobs here.

Todd Coleman, executive director of the public development authority, told attendees at the Coldwell Banker Commercial Schneidmiller Realty Kootenai County Commercial Market forum early this month that the mission remains the same, which is to work to grow economic development in the West Plains region.

French says the total budget for the rebranding was roughly $250,000, and the process took about a year. The rebranding will be presented during the state of the County address Friday, March 13, he adds.

Birchell says that Spokane-based marketing firm Houdini was awarded the rebranding contract.

The PDA encompasses over 9,250 acres of property. As S3R3, it will continue to recruit companies to build within the PDA, work to retain existing companies, and plan and invest in infrastructure projects to prepare land for further development.

With the new name comes a new website, and information about the organization can now be found at s3r3solutions.com, instead of the city of Spokane website.

In addition to French, Gemmill, and Birchell, members of the board are Bill Butler, of Web Properties Inc.; Larry Krauter, of the Spokane International Airport; Breean Beggs, of the Spokane City Council; and Wes Crago, of the city of Spokane. 

Beyond the rebranding effort, S3R3 is prepping to launch the third and final stage of its stormwater management system study and plans to begin work on a transload facility this year. 

The organization received an $11.3 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to fund the work on the transload facility. 

The project is a $16.9 million new rail and truck transload facility for train loading, offloading, and circulation at the airport. It will extend an existing rail spur to the facility and an access road will be constructed to provide freight vehicle access to the site.