Tacoma Screw Products Inc., a Tacoma-based distributor of fasteners, tools, and maintenance, shop, and industrial supplies, says it will invest about $2 million to construct a building that will house the company's first Spokane-area outlet.

The company has bought property at the northeast corner of Third Avenue and Howe Street in Spokane Valley, near the juncture where Fancher Road turns into an Interstate 90 westbound onramp, says John Wolfe, an executive adviser for Tacoma Screw Products.

A former service garage on that site will be demolished so Tacoma Screw Products can erect a 10,000-square-foot building for its new outlet, Wolfe says.

"Our expectation and plan is to have the building constructed and in operation in October," he says.

The planned single-story building, which will have an interior height of 32 feet, will be modeled after stores Tacoma Screw Products had built in Pasco and Yakima.

AHBL Inc., a Tacoma-based firm that has a Spokane office, is designing the project, and Simpson Engineers Inc., of Spokane, is providing engineering services, he says.

The company hasn't selected a contractor yet.

"We're on the front end of planning right now," Wolfe says. "We're in the design phase, and we have to go through permitting. We will invite selected contractors to bid on it later this year."

Tacoma Screw likely will hire three people for counter sales and another three outside salespeople initially, he says, and the company expects the staff to grow to 10 employees as business increases.

Wolfe says Tacoma Screw sells products primarily through the wholesale market to municipal, institutional, heavy construction, agriculture, mining, and commercial customers. The company considers its retail sales a small, but important part of the business, he says.

Tacoma Screw Products has 14 locations, most of which are in the Puget Sound area. Its closest locations to Spokane are the Pasco and Yakima outlets.

Wolfe says Tacoma Screw Products saw a decline in revenue in 2009, but sales increased in the double-digit percentage range in 2010 and 2011.

In all, the company serves more than 40,000 business accounts and maintains an inventory of 45,000 products, Wolfe says.