Liberty Lake-based real estate development company Greenstone Corp. says it has secured a handful of businesses that will occupy new commercial space under various stages of design and development in the 78-acre Kendall Yards urban village development northwest of downtown.
Spa Paradiso, a Spokane health and beauty spa, will lease 7,500 square feet of space in a 13,000-square-foot building to be constructed at 1237 W. Summit, says Adam Jones, project manager for Greenstone's commercial-development arm.
The city is reviewing a building permit application, which is expected to be followed closely by a similar application for an attached building that will be owned by The Inlander, the Spokane-based free weekly newspaper, Jones says. Construction on the projects, each valued at $1.2 million, will begin as soon as permits are approved, he says.
Ponderosa Ridge Homes LLC, a Greenstone subsidiary, will be the contractor on the projects, and Nystrom Olson Architecture, of Spokane, designed them.
The attached structures will be on the south side of Summit Parkway, just east of the $1.5 million, 5,200-square-foot Cedar Plaza building currently under construction, which will feature Kendall Yards' first restaurant, Jones says. Ponderosa Ridge Homes also is constructing that building. Summit, when fully developed, will be the main boulevard running east and west through Kendall Yards.
Spokane chef David Blaine will operate the restaurant to be called Central Food, which is expected to open in December, Jones says. Kendall Yards' sales office and Rockwood Property Management Inc., another Greenstone affiliate, will occupy the remaining space in that building, he says.
Spa Paradiso, which currently occupies 5,500 square feet of leased space in the Davenport Hotel, at 10 S. Post, will close there on July 22 and reopen at the Kendall Yards site in December, says Sarah Schoonover, spa director.
The spa, which employs 35 people and offers manicures, pedicures, facials, and massage treatments, will expand its hair salon and likely will add other services at Kendall Yards, Schoonover says.
Jones says other potential tenants have shown interest in leasing the remaining 5,500 square feet of space that's still available in the building Spa Paradiso will occupy, although he declines to name them.
The Inlander currently occupies 10,000 square feet of leased space on the fourth floor of the Hutton Building, at 9 S. Washington, downtown, having moved there last year from smaller quarters at another downtown location.
Ted S. McGregor Jr., editor and publisher of The Inlander, says the newspaper plans to move into the Kendall Yards space next February.
The Inlander will occupy 11,300 square feet of space in its Kendall Yards building and will lease out the remaining space, McGregor says.
The newspaper, which is enjoying growing circulation and revenues, has 34 employees, and the new building will have space for it to grow to a staff of 40, he says.
Greenstone acquired the Kendall Yards property in 2009 and since then has built and sold 60 homes. Another 35 are in design or under construction, Jones says.
The company has said its vision is to develop 1,000 residential units and 600,000 square feet of commercial space in Kendall Yards within 15 years.