The owner of a Spokane lighting sales company plans to develop a $1.3 million, 10,800-square-foot office building east of downtown.

Doug Wright, owner JC of Wright Lighting Sales Inc., says he hopes construction will start in May on the two-story JC Wright Corporate Office Facility, which is to be located at 413 E. Third. The project tentatively is scheduled to be completed before year-end, he says.

Rock on 3rd LLC, a real estate holding company owned by Wright and his wife, Cathy, bought the 1.2-acre parcel between the Alpine Deli and the Arc of Spokane campus for $750,000, state tax records show.

“We’re basically building the building and leasing it back to the company,” Wright says.

JC Wright Lighting currently is based in a 2,000-square-foot building at 5111 E. Trent.

“We’ve been in Spokane 40 years, and we’ve outgrown the building,” he says. “We’re anxious to get into the new building.”

The company represents more than 70 lighting and lighting-control manufacturers.

“We work with local architects and engineers and through electrical wholesalers and contractors in furnishing lighting products,” Wright says.

Projects spotlighted on the company website include lighting systems at the Davenport Grand Hotel and the Kalispel Golf & Country Club, both in Spokane, and McEuen Park, in Coeur d’Alene.

JC Wright Lighting has 20 employees. In recent years, the company has been growing by one or two employees annually.

The JC Wright Corporate Office project was out for contractor bids as of last week.

Wolfe Architectural Group, of Spokane, is designing the project, and the Spokane office of Seattle-based DCI Engineers Inc. is the structural engineer.

The building will be erected atop a small hill and will have north-facing views of the planned University District Gateway Bridge and the east side of downtown, and southwest views of the lower Spokane Hill medical district, Wright says.

The project will include on-site parking with about 40 spaces, with access to the property located along Third Avenue, just west of the Alpine Deli.

The building will be identifiable at night by its lighting features, which will include a 20-by-96-foot translucent exterior glass wall, Wright says, adding the glass will be illuminated with color-changing lights that can be programmed with custom themes.

Wright asserts the East Central neighborhood has a bright outlook for business opportunities, especially near the Sprague Avenue and Sherman Street corridors.

“I think it’s an important area in the city for growth,” he says. “It’s the merging of the University District and the medical district.”

Other projects planned within a couple of blocks of the JC Wright Corporate Office project site include the University District Gateway Bridge, which is in the early construction stage, and Avista’s mixed-use Catalyst project, which is planned on the north side of Sprague Avenue, adjacent to the south landing of the bridge.