Construction is expected to start this month on a third warehouse building at the Playfair Commerce Park, says Kiemle & Hagood Co. industrial specialist broker Mark Lucas.

The $2.2 million structure will be erected near the Scafco Corp. offices and Scafco Steel Stud Manufacturing Co. buildings, at 2800 E. Main.

Lawrence Stone, Scafco’s president and CEO, also heads Playfair Commerce Park LLC. Stone bought 48 acres of the 63-acre former Playfair horse racing track property from the city of Spokane in 2010 for $2.1 million. Lucas says Stone bought another 10 acres from the city at the beginning of this year.

Lawrence B. Stone PPTY Construction LLC was the contractor on the Scafco headquarters and stud plant projects that were completed in 2013. Those projects included constructing a $3.6 million, 24,000-square-foot, two-story office building and a connected $5.7 million, 113,600-square-foot manufacturing building.

The first warehouse building was constructed in 2014 at 301 N. Haven east of Scafco’s headquarters. It has a total of 70,625 square feet of space with 7,500 square feet of space that has yet to be leased, Lucas says. 

The second warehouse building, built last year at 2600 E. Ferry, has a total of 63,750 square feet with 19,750 square feet still available for lease, Lucas says. It’s located just northwest of Scafco’s headquarters.

The next structure will be a 52,000-square-foot facility at 2500 E. Ferry and has 27,500 square feet of space remaining for lease.

A permit application says the planned building will be a single-story building with an interior height of 40 feet. Divcon Inc., of Spokane Valley, will be the contractor on the project. Architectural Ventures, of Spokane Valley, is the project architect, while Simpson Engineering Inc., of Spokane Valley, is the project engineer.

“It’s turned out to be a good site for distribution and manufacturing companies,” says Lucas. “BN (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway) and UP (Union Pacific) have rail lines there so it makes it convenient for those businesses.”

Additionally, qualifying businesses may be able to have their sales taxes abated, or forgiven altogether, for leasing space at Playfair Commerce Park, Lucas says.

“That’s something that’s kind of unique to the site,” he says.

When fully developed, the Playfair Commerce Park is expected to include 12 buildings with a total of 800,000 square feet of space.