The Northtown Square boutique shopping center thats slated to replace the Wendle Ford dealership on Spokanes North Side is expected to cost about $20 million and to house 16 to 20 retail businesses, many of which will be new to Spokane, developers Chud Wendle and John Stejer say.


Wendle resigned from his position as president of Wendle Motors Inc. in August to lead the project, and Stejer is president of the Wendle familys partner in the development, Dixon Investment Co., of Spokane. The partners are developing the center through a company theyve formed called Northtown Square LLC.


Disclosing new details about the project, Wendle and Stejer say theyve secured letters of intent for about half of the 71,000 square feet of retail space they plan to develop on the six-acre site where Wendle Ford will continue to operate until this coming spring. They decline to disclose the names of the prospective tenants, but say the businesses include a full-service restaurant, a regional financial institution, fashion retail stores, and small food and service retailers.


The project, which will be located at 4715 N. Division, on the site of the Wendle Motors Ford-Suzuki dealership across from NorthTown Mall, is under review for state environmental approval. The Ford dealership will move to Wendles North Division Y location at 9000 N. Division in April or May, and demolition for Northtown Square is expected to begin as soon as the property is vacated, Wendle says. Construction of the new center is expected to begin in July, and its expected that space will be ready for tenants by the spring of 2009.


The developers confirm they have been negotiating with Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants Inc., which operates both the Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurant chains, on the leasing of a 7,100-square-foot restaurant pad at the northwest corner of Division and Wellesley. Red Lobster has been said recently to be looking at possible restaurant sites in the Spokane area.


Wendle says the city of Spokanes building department is reviewing a building permit application for one of the planned Northtown Square buildings now, and the companys architect, Nystrom Olson Collins Inc., of Spokane, soon will have drawings ready for the second building. A third building is to be constructed there eventually by a franchise restaurant tenant that will lease the ground on which the building sits.


Its a popular site, Wendle says, adding that the Spokane market is appealing to mid-price family restaurants such as he and Stejer envision in Northtown Square. Wendle says its his hope that the development will add stores that will complement NorthTown Mall.


Stejer says that although the site plan is designed so that the development could be built in phases, he hopes to have most of the retail space fully leased by the time the project is ready for construction next summer, and to go vertical with everything at once.


Along with the restaurant pad, the site plan shows two retail strip buildings. The larger building, at just less than 50,000 square feet, would run most of the length of the lot from north to south at the western edge of the site, with additional parking space on both the north and south ends of that building. The smaller buildings would have just under 13,000 square feet, and would be located on the north side of the site, facing south toward the parking lot. All of the buildings are expected to be less than 32 feet high.


Stejer says tenants in the largest building likely will occupy spaces ranging in size from 3,500 square feet to 15,000 square feet. In the smaller retail building, retailers could lease spaces as small as 1,300 square feet.


Altogether, the development would have 330 parking spaces, slightly more than the Wendle Ford dealership has currently, and about 150 people would be employed at the businesses there, according to documents filed with the city. Wendle says the developments sidewalks and paths would be designed to lead pedestrians smoothly toward the intersection of Wellesley and Division for safe crossing to and from NorthTown Mall.


Stejer says the one piece that so far still is missing from the project is a selection of local retailers. He says hed like to see an eclectic local food retailer and perhaps a consumer-electronics dealer commit to leasing space in the center.


We dont want this to be a strip center, Stejer says. He says the partners want to do something here thats unique for the market.


Wendle says the hardest part for him is likely to be the demolition of the Wendle dealership. He says its where he had his first job, and its been in his family for three generations. Still, his whole family feels how much more difficult the automobile sales industry is now, and hes excited to do something new, he says.


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. In the mid-1990s, the company opened its Wendle at the Y location, where it operates Nissan and Infiniti dealerships.


Wendle Motors spent $1.5 million in 2005 to upgrade its main showroom at the Ford dealership. The company currently is remodeling its Wendle at the Y location, including adding a Nissan showroom there.


According to the developers State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) application, the Northtown Square project would contribute about $90,000 to a combined City of Spokane and Washington state Department of Transportation project on Division Street, and to fund engineering work for a possible left turn that might be needed at Division and Wabash streets next to the Northtown Square site.


In addition, the site plan describes a pedestrian island that would be constructed in the center of Division Street, as well as road improvements such as tapered driveways at both the Wellesley and Division Street driveways.


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