Spokane Teachers Credit Union says it will open a branch next year in the Northtown Square boutique shopping center, which is to be developed on the site of the Wendle Ford dealership, at 4727 N. Division.


The branch will be the 13th for STCU and will employ between six and 12 people, says spokeswoman Keely Barrett. The lease agreement makes STCU the first signed tenant for the planned 71,000-square-foot shopping center.


The credit union branch will occupy a 3,400-square-foot space in a 50,000-square-foot building on the west side of the property. The branch will be at the north corner of that building, which has been designed to accommodate a financial tenant in that space, says Chud Wendle, managing partner in Northtown Square LLC, the company formed by the Wendle family and Dixon Investment Co., of Spokane, to develop the project. The credit union branch will provide drive-through services to its members, Barrett says.


Wendle plans to move its Ford dealership to a location it operates at the North Division Y later this spring. Construction of the $20 million Northtown Square is to begin in July, though a contractor hasnt been selected yet. The project is being designed by Spokane-based Nystrom Olson Collins Inc.


Along with the 50,000-square-foot building, the project will include a 13,000-square-foot building on the north side of the property that will face south toward the parking lot, and a restaurant building at the northwest corner of the intersection of Wellesley Avenue and Division Street.


Wendle says that including the Spokane-based financial institution in the development fits with the partnerships focus on local businesses.


STCU will be an integral part of this project, he says. Wendle Ford has been at this location for over 40 years, so it is important to partner with a local business that has some history in Spokane.


Wendle says the project partners want to recruit a variety of local businesses for the shopping center, as well as national companies that dont have a presence here yet. He says theyre still working on final details for several more anticipated tenants for the center, but declines to name them. Letters of intent now have been secured for about half of the retail space in the center.


Wendles grandfather, Chud Wendle Sr., co-founded Stoddard-Wendle Ford in 1944 and bought out his partner in 1958. The dealership moved to its current location from downtown Spokane in 1964.


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