The vacant 130,000-square-foot former Costco Wholesale Corp. store at 800 E. Third, near downtown, is to become the home of a new venture here that will offer leased storage for boats and recreational vehicles.

Cip Paulsen III, whose father, Cip Paulsen Jr., owns the building, says he plans to open Empire Auto Boat & RV Storage there once he receives a change of use permit he's seeking from the city of Spokane. The new venture would be a division of a business Paulsen owns called Sticker Shock Signs Inc., which makes signs, banners, and vehicle graphics. That business is located at 4023 E. Sprague and employs three people, Paulsen says.

He says he'll be the storage operation's only employee.

Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco moved its store from Third Avenue in 2001 to a new building at 5601 E. Sprague, in Spokane Valley. The building on Third has been mostly vacant ever since.

The structure, which occupies an eight-acre parcel, will provide a dry, clean, and climate-controlled place to store boats and vehicles, Paulsen says. He adds that in the future, he might fence the entire property and begin offering outdoor storage there as well.

Paulsen says the business will open immediately after he secures the change of use permit for the property, to storage and parking uses from mercantile.

"People are wanting to store their boats and RVs right now," he says. "When the word gets out, we'll have them flocking toward the door."

Although the building on Third remained vacant after Costco moved its store from there, the chain's lease of the building ran through late last year, Paulsen says. Costco tried to find a tenant to sublease the building, but was unsuccessful. Since its lease ended, Paulsen has been trying to sell the building, for which the Paulsen family is asking $5.4 million.