Itronix building for the future

Itronix Corp. CEO Tom Turner celebrated his birthday Monday wearing a hard hat and wielding a gold shovel.

The Spokane-based technology company’s chief executive helped push the first shovels of dirt at Itronix’s new headquarters in the Spokane Valley.

Itronix, which makes rugged computers and handhelds, will combine its 450 area workers into a new building on 11 acres along Mirabeau Parkway in the Spokane Valley, north of Interstate 90 and east of Pines Road.

The company expects to move into the new center by Christmas Day.

Turner said Itronix’s 2005’s fiscal year, which just ended, was the company’s best ever, with sales of $150 million.

He predicted the company will double sales and bottom-line profits within three years.

“And this building is a big part of that plan,” Turner said during the Monday morning groundbreaking.

Itronix, owned by Golden Gate Capital of San Francisco, has been leasing two Spokane-area office buildings; one on the South Hill is the marketing and administrative office, a second building in Liberty Lake is its production and service center.

Itronix will lease its new building from property developer Pinecroft Business Park, which owns the land and has developed similar buildings along Mirabeau Parkway.

Itronix will spend about $11 million on the 107,000-square-foot building, said Turner. Combining the two current sites into one will improve efficiency and cut redundant costs, he said.

Itronix has an option on five adjoining acres of land to spread out as its needs dictate, he added.

Wolfe Architectural Group, of Spokane, designed the new building.

Pinecroft Business Park has nine buildings already developed. Tenants there include Boeing Employees Credit Union, Edmo Distributors and Vivato, Inc.

John Miller, one of the principals at Pinecroft, said he and his team see increasing interest for development in that corner of the county.

“We have four interstate exits. You’re right along the river and next to Mirabeau park land. And it’s a nice quiet place to do work,” Miller said.