Two of four owners of the Sonic Drive-In franchise restaurant here say they plan to develop two retail buildings next to a new Sonic Drive-In outlet the group is building in Post Falls.


The franchise group, Spokane-based Clarus Group LLC, started work last week on the new fast-food restaurant there, which will be located near the southeast corner of Mullan Avenue and state Route 41, just south of a gas station there.


The two members of the group who plan to develop the retail buildings, Preston and Carrie Hawkins, of Pasadena, Calif., own the 2.5 acres of land where the restaurant and retail buildings will be located and plan to sell 1acre of that land to Clarus Group for the restaurant, Preston Hawkins says.


The planned retail buildings would have a combined 9,000 square feet of floor space and would be located just south of the restaurant building, Hawkins says. One will have 6,200 square feet of space and will face SR 41, while the other will have 2,700 square feet of space and will be located behind the larger building to the east.


The structures could accommodate as many as six tenants, he says, adding that the smaller structure would be suitable for storage or for a business that doesnt need exposure to the street.


Hawkins says Clarus Group plans to have a total of about 10 Sonic Drive-In outlets open within the region in the next four years, including additional restaurants in the Spokane market. He says the company also is eyeing locations in the Coeur dAlene-Hayden area; in Sandpoint and Lewiston, Idaho; and in Pullman, Wash.


Hawkins says that he and his wife dont have an estimated construction cost to release yet for the retail buildings they plan near the Sonic Drive-In thats under construction in Post Falls and havent chosen a contractor to build the retail structures, but expect work to begin by June 1, soon after the new eatery is to open.


That new restaurant is expected to employ about 35 people full time and 40 workers part time initially, Hawkins says. It will be the second restaurant opened by Clarus Group, which also is owned by Patrick and Tina Vollmer, of Spokane. The group opened its first Sonic Drive-In in Spokane last May at 1313 N. Ruby.


The new Post Falls outlet is expected to cost about $850,000 to build and is being constructed by McAlvain Construction Inc., of Boise, Hawkins says. Avant Design Group Inc., of Arlington, Texas, designed it.


Like its Spokane counterpart, the 1,750-square-foot restaurant wont have inside seating, he says. Instead, 24 parking slots will be built around the structure. Customers in their cars will order food and drink through an intercom system, then eat in their vehicles or in an outside seating area capable of accommodating about 50 people, Hawkins says. Orders will be delivered to patrons by Sonic employees who will glide up to customers cars on roller skates.


McAlvain Construction has built the last six or seven Sonic Drive-Ins that have opened in the Pacific Northwest, including the Spokane outlet, Hawkins says.


Clarus Group is a franchisee of Sonic Corp., of Oklahoma City, which has about 3,200 restaurants. The Spokane franchisee has rights to a territory that extends west from Spokane to Moses Lake, Wash.; south to Lewiston, Idaho; east to the Idaho-Montana border; and north to Bonners Ferry, Idaho.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at rockyw@spokanejournal.com.