It will cost $101 million. It’s enormous. It’s Amazon-like. It’s coming near Spokane

Plans for an Amazon-like distribution center in Spokane Valley are rapidly progressing through the Spokane suburb’s planning department. The unnamed company behind the project has applied for a building permit valued at $101 million.

The permit, filed Friday, is under review by the city, which in recent weeks has approved grading and foundation-only permits for the 1.3-million-square-foot structure, referred to as “Project Fireball-GEG2,” on 80 acres at 18007 E. Garland Ave. in the city’s northeast industrial area, about 35 miles west of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Amazon’s name is not attached to the building permit, and a spokeswoman told The Spokesman-Review in October that the company “is constantly exploring and weighing a variety of factors when deciding where to develop sites to best serve customers, but doesn’t provide information on its future roadmap.”

However, Amazon’s tendency to use code names in early project design phases has created some speculation about its involvement with Project Fireball. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant’s fulfillment center on the West Plains – known as GEG1 – was listed as Project Rose in its initial building permit application with Spokane County.

Project Fireball also has ties to companies that have worked with Amazon to develop fulfillment centers in the past.

Chicago-based Clayco Inc., the contractor listed in Spokane Valley city documents for Project Fireball, has partnered with Amazon to build 17 e-commerce centers nationwide, ranging in size from 500,000 to 1 million square feet, according to Clayco’s website.

Last month, the Spokane Valley City Council entered a licensing agreement with Irvine, California-based Panattoni Development Co. Inc. to redo a portion of Garland Avenue. A public hearing for the street vacation is set for Nov. 17, but city staffers did not specify what would be built beside the relocated road, and city documents did not include details on plans for the vacated space.

Panattoni is an international real estate firm specializing in industrial, office and built-to-suit development with 28 offices in the U.S., Europe and Canada. It’s linked to multiple Amazon projects nationwide, including a fulfillment center that is expected to open this month in Nampa.