Bedrosians Tile & Stone Inc., a porcelain tile and stone importer and distributor based in Anaheim, Calif., has started work on a new 41,000-square-foot building at 19119 E. Broadway for a Spokane Valley store.

Eddie Bedrosian, the company’s Anaheim-based marketing director, says the decision to build a new structure for the Spokane store stemmed from its May acquisition of Oregon Tile & Marble, a tile and stone company with five locations in the Pacific Northwest, including Spokane, Seattle, Boise, Portland, and Medford Ore. 

Oregon Tile & Marble has never had a store location here, although it occupies 12,000 square feet of leased space in the Spokane Business & Industrial Park at 3808 N. Sullivan Rd. 

Bedrosian says that company originally purchased the Broadway site with the intention of building a store location but never got around to it.

“Oregon Tile & Marble had plans to build a new store on the site,” says Bedrosian. “So when we acquired their company, we decided to go ahead with the building plans, but build them to our specifications instead.” 

Work on the $2 million project started in September and is expected to be completed next March.

Of that total square footage, 13,000 square feet will be devoted to a tile showroom space featuring more than 5,000 tile products, with some additional space for offices, Bedrosian says. 

He says 19,000 square feet will be an indoor warehouse slab yard space, and the remaining 9,000 square feet will be reserved for lease by a future tenant. 

Bedrosian says the store will need between 10 and 15 employees, including showroom, warehouse, and outside sales positions. 

 “We always try to hire locally so we can support the community,” he says. “It’s a good area, with a lot going on, and I think it’s going to be a good market for us.”  

Spokane Valley-based Divcon Inc. is the general contractor for the project, which was designed by Architectural Ventures, also of Spokane Valley.