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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

$2.5 million warehouse, office building to bolster Playfair Commerce growth

A new 60,000-square-foot industrial building is coming to east Spokane, as the Playfair Commerce Park continues its unabated development.

The $2.5 million Playfair 9 building will be 40 feet tall and serve as an office and warehouse site, according to city permit data. The quick build-out of the park has gone nearly unimpeded since the it was established in 2010. Earlier this year, the $3.5 million Playfair 10 warehouse was built, adding 75,000 square feet to the park, which saw brisk leasing of the park’s other five buildings.

The east Spokane commerce park is the former Playfair Race Course horse track that has been converted to 58 acres of land zoned heavy industrial near the core of Spokane. The park is within a community empowerment zone, which allows the deferral of sales tax for manufacturing construction.

Larry Stone, the president of Spokane-based SCAFCO Corp. and LB Stone Properties, bought 48 acres of the former Playfair property from the city in 2009. In 2010, he started building new roads, upgraded power and water services, added landscaping and sidewalks, and also buried underground fiber-optic lines for voice and data.

Additionally, a new arterial route on Altamont Street and Ferry Avenue opened last summer. The road swings under a Union Pacific Railroad underpass on Altamont and turns east to eventually connect with Freya Street and at a traffic light at Alki Avenue.

The new warehouse is being built by Playfair Commerce Park LLC, which is owned by LB Stone Properties. The contractor is Divcon Inc., of Spokane Valley, which has built the park’s other buildings as well as those on the nearby 23-acre Iron Bridge campus just north of Trent Avenue in the Chief Garry Park neighborhood.

The architect for the Playfair warehouse is Architectural Ventures, which has an office in Spokane Valley.