Copiers Northwest hopes to break ground in March on a new $1.3 million two-story building in Kennewick.

The new nearly 12,000-square-foot building at 7035 W. Clearwater Ave. in Kennewick will be next to the current Copiers Northwest office space.

The company’s Kennewick office is currently in a strip mall on Clearwater, with 3,200 square feet of space. It has been there for 11 years, and it’s out of room.

“We have three people in one office, two in another,” said Forrest Alexander, regional vice president for Copiers Northwest. “We have a need for more space.”

Company CEO Mark Petrie and his officers have been searching for a place to expand. “It’s been about two years since we started looking for a new building,” he said.

But there wasn’t anything to fit the company’s needs in the Tri-Cities, he said.

Petrie said they considered leasing space but it didn’t pan out.

When they found a solution, it was next door.

“We bought land from the McCurley Auto Group,” Petrie said. “They don’t need the frontage on Clearwater.”

“McCurley is a great customer of ours, too,” Alexander said.

The “L” shaped piece of land is less than an acre, valued at $226,280 and located next to The Pub. 

The back part will be extra parking for the Mercedes-Benz of Tri-Cities, while Copiers Northwest-BluZEBRA Technologies will take the front portion of the property.

BluZEBRA Technologies offers, among other services, managed IT services.

Petrie expects the ground-breaking to begin in March. 

“And it should take roughly nine months,” he said. “So it should be ready to go by the end of the year.”

When completed, the new building’s ground level will be 7,600 square feet, including 2,800 square feet of warehouse space. 

The second floor will be 4,300 square feet. 

“So the total is just under 12,000 square feet,” Alexander said.

Apollo Inc. is the contractor for the project. NAI Tri-Cities will work to get the upstairs portion of the new building filled with one or two businesses that will lease the space from Copiers Northwest. 

One of the key features of the new office building will be a loading dock to accommodate bigger delivery trucks. 

“We wanted something with office space, a showroom, and warehouse space,” Petrie said. 

Alexander said the warehouse space can serve as a mini-distribution center. 

“In the winter, with this location, we could deliver products down to La Grande, up to Moses Lake and over to Yakima,” Alexander said.

It’s a new step for the company, Petrie said.

“We’re thrilled and excited to build our own building,” he said. “Throughout the region, we’ve always moved into new buildings, or in older buildings. But we’ve never built our own until now.”

Copiers Northwest celebrated its 30th year in business in 2016.

The business and its sub-division, BluZEBRA Technologies, employ 252 people in 12 locations throughout Washington and Oregon.

In the Tri-City-Yakima region, there are 26 employees.

But Petrie, Alexander and Marketplace Manager Brian Fortney expect to add more.

“I think for us, the local investment is amazing,” Fortney said. “The whole team (of salespeople) lives in the Tri-Cities, and being able to give back to the community is great.”

For Petrie, expanding the company in Kennewick just makes sense.

“The economy is growing,” Petrie said. “We offer a really high level of customer support. And we have a super high retention rate with those customers.”

And the copy industry is growing with companies still needing copying services and products.

“But the copy industry is growing much slower than IT services is growing,” Alexander said. “There is big growth in managed IT services.”

For more information, call 509-735-9795, email [email protected] or visit copiersnw.com.