The Dirt: Spokane International Airport to upgrade fueling capabilities

A building permit has been submitted to the city of Spokane for a large project to upgrade the fueling facilities at Spokane International Airport.

Plans call for upgrading the automated gauging at existing tanks, control upgrades, and thermal relief and air venting replacements of the existing facility at 2920 S. Spotted Road.

The projected $12 million project, according to the building permit request, also includes building a new 500,000- gallon jet fuel storage tank.

Todd Woodard, Spokane International Airport’s director of marketing and public affairs, said the projects remains in preliminary design.

“At this point, we are looking at upgrading the existing fuel facility,” he said.

That scope of work would include valving, piping, lighting, scaffolding and improvements to the control panel. Woodard also said the immediate plans do not include adding a new fuel tank.

However, he said the project engineers, Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co., of Kansas City, Missouri, did include preliminary design “for a future fourth tank.”

New South Hill Bruchi’s would be drive-thru

Plans have been submitted to build a new concept for a Bruchi’s Cheesesteaks & Subs restaurant on the South Hill that will not include a dining area.

A building permit request with the city of Spokane is asking to build a 1,145-square-foot building in an existing shopping center at 4416 S. Regal St.

Project architect Bob Vralsted, of Architecture All Forms, which has an office in Spokane, said the building will be built on land owned by Harlan Douglass in the southeast corner of the shopping center that includes South Hill Ace Hardware. That location is just north of the South Hill Sports Complex.

“It’s a new concept for a Bruchi’s,” Vralsted said. “It’s a walk-up and a drive-up model. There is no dining room like a traditional Bruchi’s.”

The plan calls for a covered, outdoor dining area.

“It’s kind of like a Dick’s (Hamburgers), but also with a drive-through aspect to it,” Vralsted said. “It’s going to be a nice service for that neighborhood up there.”

The expected cost of the project is listed at $600,000. The project’s engineer is Jacob Gokey.

Bruchi’s was founded by Bruce Greene in 1990. The restaurant chain changed its name to Bruchi’s Cheesesteaks & Subs in 1991 after discovering success with selling cheesesteaks.

Vralsted said the permit is in for review and he wasn’t sure of a contractor had been finalized yet.

Peirone addition proposed

A building permit has been submitted to Spokane County that would add about 3,200 square feet to the existing 70,000-square-foot Peirone Produce Co. warehouse on the West Plains.

Chuck Horgan, an architect with Bernardo Wills, of Spokane, said the company owners are taking bids under advisement and deciding whether to move forward on the project, at 9818 W. Hallett Road.

But as designed, the 40-by-80-foot addition would add office and breakroom space to the existing warehouse facility, which was built in 2009.

Once the owners give the project approval, it would take contractors about six to eight months to complete, Horgan said. The expected cost of the 18-foot-tall addition is listed at $1.2 million.

Pierone is one the largest food distributors in the Spokane region. Its workers deliver food products in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, Western Montana and northeast Oregon.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of wholesaler URM Stores Inc., based in Spokane.