Efforts to fast-track infrastructure improvements and the construction permitting process in the 800-acre Barker-Euclid industrial area in northeast Spokane Valley have helped attract economic development there.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based design-build contractor and construction component manufacturer Katerra Inc. is building a $35 million factory there. Albertville, Ala.-based locomotive manufacturer Progress Rail has bought an adjacent industrial site for what state records indicate will be a $15.8 million manufacturing plant, and an as-yet unnamed company recently acquired a permit to construct a $1.7 million recreational vehicle repair shop.

Katerra is designing and constructing a 250,000-square-foot plant in which the company plans to manufacture cross-laminated timber panels and glued-laminated beam and column components for commercial and residential construction projects.

The 52-acre project site is located at 19202 E. Garland Lane. The south edge of the site abuts the Union Pacific Corp. rail line east of Barker Road.

The company says it will employ hundreds of workers at the plant, which is expected to begin production this year.

Katerra claims its engineered wood products, to be manufactured from small-diameter timber, represent the future of sustainable construction because they reduce environmental impact without sacrificing design or structural integrity, compared with conventional building materials.

Progress Rail, a subsidiary of Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc., hasn’t announced officially its plans to construct a plant here, but the company has purchased 39 acres of land on the east side of Barker Road, just north of Euclid Avenue and the Union Pacific railroad mainline, Spokane County Assessor’s records show.

The site is adjacent to the Katerra factory site and within the industrial area for which the Washington state Department of Commerce awarded $114,000 in late 2016 to the city of Spokane Valley, which is providing a $55,000 match, to streamline the process for environmental permitting.

The city of Spokane Valley and Spokane County also collaborated last year to extend sewer service and reconstruct Euclid Avenue to serve industrial development in the area.

While representatives of business recruiting efforts here have declined to disclose details about a company they’re recruiting for the site owned by Progress Rail, grant documents submitted to the state say a 40-acre site is being considered for a manufacturing facility for a potential heavy manufacturer of transportation equipment that would have about 150 employees.

The grant documents say the $15.8 million plant would have 110,000 square feet of production space, 115,000 square feet of storage space, a new rail spur, and parking to accommodate business operations.