Collins Aerospace is planning a three-building expansion to its existing facilities at 11135 W. Westbow Lane in the West Plains.

A representative of the organization declined to comment on the expansion. 

Site plans filed with Spokane County show the aerospace parts manufacturing company intends to add about 45,000 square feet of space to its existing 135,400-square-foot facility. No timeline is indicated on the plans as to when work on these facilities is expected to be completed.

Plans show Collins likely will begin work on an expanded evaporation pond just east of the existing facilities to accommodate increased manufacturing capabilities, as well as a new parking lot, in spring of 2020. The building permit application includes grading for future new buildings, though it doesn’t indicate how many.

Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project. Vancouver, Washington-based Kestrel Engineering Group Inc., which has an office in Spokane, is providing engineering services. 

Collins also has been issued permits for a 20,900-square-foot, $1.8 million carbonization building, one of the three intended new buildings indicated on the site plans. Garco is also the contractor on that project.

Also included in the plans is a new 18,400-square-foot utility building and a 3,900-square-foot finishing facility.

As a project appears to be imminent in Spokane, Collins also is working on an $80 million expansion at its center in Pueblo, Colorado. Work there began in 2015 and is expected to be completed late this year, according to online aerospace publication AIN, or Aviation International News. The company now has a footprint of 325,000 square feet and has increased its staff by roughly 25% to 250 at the Pueblo facility.

Ajay Mahajan, vice president of the Landing Systems unit, told AIN in late October that Collins was considering a similar investment in its Spokane operations.

The company, formerly UTC Aerospace Systems, was formed in late 2018 when its parent company, United Technologies, completed the acquisition of Rockwell Collins and merged Rockwell with UTC to form Collins Aerospace.

Collins manufactures wheels, brakes, and landing gears for commercial aircraft. It transforms raw materials into materials placed into a brake disc for airplanes.

As of May 2019, Collins had 226 employees here, according to the Journal’s Leading Spokane Manufacturers list.