Home-improvement retail giant Lowes Cos. apparently plans to open a store next to the Spokane Valley Plaza shopping center east of Sullivan Road, according to a site plan filed with the city of Spokane Valley. The site plan calls for a total of five buildings with more than 268,000 square feet of retail space, which the developer involved in the project says would cost an estimated roughly $35 million, including site work and construction.


Lowes was listed in the site plan as an anchor tenant for the proposed 23-acre development, which would be located at about 16000 E. Broadway, a few blocks east of Sullivan and bordering Interstate 90. Woodinville, Wash.-based PacLand submitted the preliminary binding site plan to the city to divide the property into three lots on behalf of property owner Black Enterprises LP, of Spokane, city documents say. A binding site plan subdivides commercial, industrial, or multi-family residential lots, says city spokeswoman Carolbelle Branch.


Maureen Rich, a spokeswoman for Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowes, declines to comment on the prospect of a new Spokane Valley outlet. Lowes already operates two home-improvement stores here, one about eight miles west of the proposed new store, at 4204 E. Sprague, and the other at 6902 N. Division, on Spokanes North Side.


A narrative that accompanied the site plan says one of the parcels will contain a 140,013-square-foot Lowes with a 32,940-square-foot outdoor garden center attached to its western end. The store would be located on a 13-acre site just east of a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. store there.


Spokane developer and real estate executive Dave Black, owner of Black Enterprises, says that if the project moves forward, he plans to sell the 13-acre parcel to Lowes.


Were really excited to make this happen, if it happens, but nothing is final until the binding site plan is approved, Black says. This would complete a vision that my dad (the late James S. Black) had in the early 70s to develop the property into a regional shopping mall.


Just east of the proposed Lowes store, the site plan shows a 98,000-square-foot retail building, with no store name on it, on a 6-acre lot. Kohls Department Stores Inc., the large Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based department store chain that bought the former Mervyns LLC building at NorthTown Mall last year, is rumored to be looking at the site.


Im not making an announcement on Kohls; they can make their own announcement, Black says. Its no secret theyre looking in the Valley, and we have been talking with them extensively.


A representative at Kohls couldnt be reached for comment.


A 3-acre lot, located at the southwest corner of the proposed development, would have three attached retail buildings with a combined about 30,000 square feet of floor space, the site plan shows.


The development would have street access to Broadway Avenue, which would be widened to four lanes if the project goes ahead, Black says. The property already is zoned for regional business use.


In documents provided with the site plan, PacLand said site improvements and construction of the two large retail buildings are expected to start this summer and should be completed this fall.


Infrastructure improvements to the 3-acre lot also are to start this summer and are expected to be completed this fall, the documents say. A construction schedule for those buildings, however, will depend on market conditions, PacLand said.


The city had scheduled a meeting with the applicant for yesterday, March 21, to discuss the preliminary site plan. Black planned at that meeting to discuss the possibility of combining the approval procedures for the preliminary and final site plans to expedite the process.


Construction on the project conceivably could start as soon as within a month, says Greg McCormick, the citys planning division manager. He adds, though, that building permits still must be secured before construction starts.


Spokane-based Storhaug Engineering Inc. is listed as the surveyor, and the Spokane office of Redmond, Wash.-based GeoEngineers Inc. is listed as the geotechnical and environmental consultant.


Lowes spokeswoman, Rich, says the retail chain is in the midst of the largest expansion in its 60-year history. The company has opened roughly 150 stores a year in each of the last two years and plans to open 150 to 160 stores this year.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.