Construction has started on a $3.5 million project at AutoNation Honda Spokane Valley, at 8201 E. Sprague, that will double the size of the current showroom floor and the service-area waiting room.

“We had a minor upgrade about three years ago, but this is a major project,” says AutoNation Honda general manager Russ Norman.

The project will involve excavation for the additional foundation work that will be needed to add the necessary square feet of space. Norman says he’s not sure of the exact square footage of the new space, but a city of Spokane Valley permit application lists 2,200 square feet as designated for improvement.

Additional costs involve landscaping and creating new auto entryways into the dealership, he says.

Campbell, Calif.-based Taschon Corp. is the general contractor, and Stantec Inc., an international design firm with headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is the project architect.

To accommodate customers, service workers and sales staff as best as possible, AutoNation Honda—which has a total of 42 employees—brought four temporary, single-wide trailers onto nearby property until the project is completed, likely late this year.

AutoNation Honda Spokane Valley makes its home next to AutoNation Acura Spokane Valley, which is located at 8325 E. Sprague. The two operations are independent of each other,
Norman says.

Based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., AutoNation Inc. claims to be the nation’s largest automotive dealer with roughly 360 retail outlets and more than 26,000 employees across the U.S., its website says.

Here, AutoNation also operates a Mitsubishi dealership at 8400 E. Sprague; a Mazda dealership, at 8412 E. Sprague; Chevrolet, at 8500 E. Sprague; Toyota, at 8600 E. Sprague; Subaru, at 10000 E. Sprague; and Volkswagen, at 10006 E. Sprague.

AutoNation Inc. acquired the chain of former Appleway dealerships in 1997 but continued to operate under the Appleway brand. By mid-2013, however, the company rebranded all its dealerships under the
AutoNation brand.