Hampton, Va.-based Faneuil Inc., the contractor selected by the Washington Health Benefit Exchange to operate a call center here, has leased a 10,400-square-foot building at the Pinecroft Business Park, in Spokane Valley.

The building that the call center will occupy is located at 3309 N. Cherry, which is east of Pines Road and near the northwest corner of Cherry and Mirabeau Parkway.

Jamie Traeger, owner of JMA Commercial Real Estate LLC, which manages the Pinecroft Business Park, says Divcon Inc., of Spokane Valley, is the contractor constructing tenant improvements to the structure, which was built in 2009 but never received interior upgrades.

Traeger declines to disclose the length of the lease agreement with Faneuil or the value of the tenant improvements. However, city of Spokane Valley permit information lists a $340,000 project value for the tenant upgrade. Architectural Ventures, of Spokane Valley, designed the project.

The state-run Washington Health Benefit Exchange, which will operate the Washington Healthplanfinder being formed in response to the federal Affordable Care Act, announced in March that it had contracted with Faneuil to run its call center in the Spokane area. The call center is scheduled to open by early September and is expected to employ 60 people who will field calls to the state exchange.

The exchange has said the Spokane-based call center initially will be the only one of its kind in the state. Bethany Frey, a senior communication specialist for the exchange, says the agency still is planning an early September opening. In October, the exchange will begin enrolling state residents for health-care coverage that takes effect Jan. 1, 2014.

"People can begin calling the center to ask questions about health coverage options available through the Washington Healthplanfinder," Frey says. "We can't enroll anyone until Oct. 1."

Pinecroft Business Park, which is owned by Spokane Valley-based Pinecroft LLC, has a total of about 350,000 square feet of floor space in 13 buildings, Traeger says. She says tenant occupancy currently is above 90 percent.