Comcast chooses Liberty Lake site

Comcast has chosen Liberty Lake for its new customer service center.

The Internet and cable TV company will build an 80,000-square-foot facility in the Meadowwood Technology Park, Comcast announced Wednesday.

Work on the $7 million project began this week, with Comcast planning to occupy the building by summer 2016, according to a news release.

Comcast announced in May that officials chose Spokane area for one of three new customer-service centers. The others are in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona. The new center will handle inbound customer retention and sales calls. Jobs to be filled include customer service, human resources, sales, training and management, according to a news release. 

Employment at the new call center was projected at 675, but Comcast has revised it to 750 jobs, said Walter Neary, Comcast’s senior director of communications in the state.

Company officials declined to give pay ranges, but have said the Spokane jobs will account for $27 million a year in employee salaries and benefits. Benefits will include health and dental insurance, a 401(k) retirement savings plan and tuition reimbursement.

Hiring for the new customer-service center already has begun, and employees are working at an interim facility at 2818 N. Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley. Alan Price, general manager of Comcast operations in Tucson, was named senior director of the customer service center.

The new center will be located at 24001 E. Mission Ave., in Liberty Lake.

Comcast is creating the new centers in response to several high-profile failures of its customer service operations, company officials said this spring. The company’s service record was mentioned repeatedly in connection with its failed bid to take over Time Warner Cable.