A Red Lobster Restaurant is slated to open at Northtown Square next spring, say Chud Wendle and John Stejer, who are developing the new retail center across from NorthTown Mall.


The developers say Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants Inc. and Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. both have leased space in the planned center. Stejer says Darden Restaurants, which also operates the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant here, has waited for the right location in Spokane to open a Red Lobster. That company has signed a 20-year ground lease for a freestanding building site at the northwest corner of the center, on which it plans to build a 7,100-square-foot restaurant.


The $20 million planned shopping center will be located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Division Street and Wellesley Avenue, which will be vacated by Wendle Fords move to the Wendle at the Y location at the intersection of U.S. 395 and U.S. 2. Wendle and Stejer are developing the retail complex through a company called Northtown Square LLC.


The Starbucks coffee shop is the first tenant announced for the smaller of two retail buildings planned for the site. The coffee shop will be located in an 1,800-square-foot space on the east end of a 12,500-square-foot building along the northern edge of the development, and will have a drive-through window, Stejer says. Spokane Teachers Credit Union already has signed a lease to open a 3,400-square-foot branch and drive-through at the north end of the other retail building, a 50,000-square-foot structure that will be situated on the west side of the property and will face Division.


Wendle says the Northtown Square partnersthe Wendle family and Spokanes Dixon Investment Co., of which Stejer is presidentare glad to have signed Starbucks, which he says has been more conservative in its expansion over the last year, opening fewer retail stores.


Its a real stamp of approval for the project, Wendle says.


Wendle Ford is in the process of consolidating its longtime North Division dealership with its other dealerships at a location at the North Division Y. Demolition of the asphalt parking lot and other buildings on the site along Wellesley and Division is scheduled to begin this week, with demolition of the main three-story Wendle Ford building there scheduled to start May 21. Wendle says the cooperation of the dealership has helped Northtown Square LLC keep on track with its schedule, and Kilgore Construction Inc., of Colbert, will begin construction of the Northtown Square buildings in July.


The partners already have the site-work permit for the project, as well as a permit for the $1.6 million retail building that will house Starbucks and six other retail tenants. Stejer says Northtown Square LLC is in negotiations with possible tenants for all but one of those spaces.


The partners expect to get a building permit in about a month for the 50,000-square-foot building that will be at the western edge of the center, Stejer says.


In addition, Northtown Square LLC has agreed to contribute an undisclosed sum of money to the city of Spokane for mitigation of traffic impacts, which will include lengthening the left turn lane on northbound Division Street at Wellesley by 100 feet, Wendle says.


The partners say they expect to begin construction on both of the retail buildings at the same time. Stejer says the concrete pad for the Red Lobster Restaurant also will be constructed at that time, and will be ready for Darden Restaurants to start construction of its Red Lobster eatery in mid-October. Stejer says that restaurant should be open next May or June, around the same time as the Starbucks coffee shop and the STCU branch.


The partners say they have leased out or are close to leasing about 80 percent of the space in the center, and hope to announce additional tenants in June or July.


The project is being designed by Nystrom Olson Collins Inc., of Spokane.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.