SPi CRM, a Philippines-based subsidiary of Japanese business process outsourcing company Relia Inc., plans to remodel a former Sports Authority store space within the Silver Lake Mall, at 200 W. Hanley, for use as a new customer service call center.

JP Meris, SPi’s Coeur d’Alene-based vice president for international operations, says the company is investing $3 million in remodeling and equipment costs to transform the 44,000-square-foot retail space into a call center. 

The Coeur d’Alene operation will be the company’s 12th location worldwide and its second in the U.S. 

The first operation was a Madison, Wis., center that opened in 2013, Meris says. 

“We’re currently hiring for an expected staff of 240 employees and expect to open in mid-September,” he says. 

Meris says as the call center grows, the company intends to promote from within, raising top performers from its initial hiring wave to leadership roles. 

“There will be lots of opportunities for upward mobility,” he says. “We’ve already hired most of our leadership staff locally, and as we grow, those employees will take on more specialist and supervisory roles.” 

Meris says the company plans for the location to have a total of at least 500 employees by 2018. 

In a company press release earlier this month, SPi CRM President and CEO Maulik Parekh said the new location is part of plans to grow and expand SPi’s onshore footprint. 

 “Coeur d’Alene is an ideal fit for our growth strategy,” says Parekh. “The local population has a wealth of talent, and we are confident that, as we establish a stronger presence here, our U.S. clients will continue to enjoy best-in-class service, closer to their home base.”

Meris says two key factors in selecting Coeur d’Alene were its location in the Pacific time zone, and an already experienced telecommunications workforce available there. 

 “We were looking for a market within this time zone that also had potential to hire experienced, talented employees,” he says. “This is an industry that many here are already familiar with or employed in, so it was an excellent fit.”