Telect Expanding Construction To Begin Next Month

A Liberty Lake telecommunications company that completed a major expansion less than two years ago is expanding again.

Telect Inc. will add 35,000 square feet of office space to the northwest end of its building at 2111 N. Molter Road.

“We have grown so fast that we’re out of space again,” said Susan Meyer, vice president of communications for Telect.

The company hired 125 new employees in the third quarter of 1999, bringing it back up to the staffing level it had before selling off its diversified products group last spring, Meyer said. Telect employs 1,071 people around the world, including 871 in Spokane.

Construction on the project, which will include an atrium, employee eating area and offices, is expected to begin Nov. 1 and be completed next fall.

Telect will move its administrative offices into the new wing to make room for its new employees, Meyer said.

Along with the new offices, Telect will add 82 parking spaces on the south end of the headquarters building.

The project completes all expansion at the Liberty Lake facility, Meyer said.

Telect was founded in the Spokane Valley in 1982 and has steadily expanded its operations to include plants and office in Texas, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Plans to potentially expand into Poland and China are in the works, Meyer said.

In 1997, the company built a 120,000-square-foot, $7.5 million manufacturing facility at its Liberty Lake headquarters.

Earlier this year, Telect sold its Diversified Products Group to former Telect senior vice president of operations Harold Alexander in order to focus on telecommunications and data communications products.

Alexander took about 150 employees with him to establish Logan Industries, which continues to subcontract for Telect.