Meridian Construction Inc. has started work in Spokane Valley on what will be the first G.I. Joes sporting goods store here.


Last summer, Wilsonville, Ore.-based G.I. Joes Inc., which operates a chain of sporting goods and auto-accessories stores, announced plans to build two stores here. One of those stores now is rising at the east end of the planned Evergreen Crossing retail center, at the southwest corner of Evergreen Road and Indiana Avenue, just west of the Spokane Valley Mall.


Construction of the store is expected to be completed by mid-July, says Mark DAgostino, owner of Spokane-based Meridian Construction. It will have 52,000 square feet of floor space and will include two mezzanines for offices and support services, DAgostino says. Beaverton, Ore.-based Leeka Architects Inc. designed the project, which is expected to cost about $4 million, he says.


G.I. Joes hopes to open the store, which will employ between 45 and 55 people, in September, says company spokesman Reese Thedford. The company still plans to open another store in the Spokane area, and is looking particularly at the North Side, but hasnt decided on a location yet, he says. Last June, G.I. Joes said it had signed a letter of intent with Pine Water Plaza LLC, which owns the Pine Water Plaza development just north of Spokane. Jason Strain, development coordinator for Vandervert Developments LLC, says lease negotiations with G.I. Joes still are continuing. Spokane developer and builder Dick Vandervert, who owns Vandervert Developments LLC, is a partner in Pine Water Plaza LLC.


G.I. Joes is leasing the land in Evergreen Crossing from Spokane Valley-based Hanson Industries Inc., which owns the property. Site work at the undeveloped retail center started a few months ago, DAgostino says. Evergreen Crossing has a total of 180,000 square feet of remaining land available, says Carl Guenzel, a real estate agent at Spokane-based Kiemle & Hagood Co. Guenzel says negotiations are under way with a number of potential tenants, but declines to disclose further details for now.


This will be the first G.I. Joes project for Meridian Construction, DAgostino says. Some of Meridians other current projects include a more than $36 million retirement-housing project in Auburn, Wash., a roughly $20 million wellness and community center in Usk, Wash., for the Kalispel Indian Tribe; and remodeling work on the Kalispels Northern Quest Casino, in Airway Heights.


G.I. Joes, which operates 25 stores in Washington and Oregon, also will open stores in Boise; Kirkland, Wash.; and Bellevue, Wash., this year, Thedford says. The companys expansion plans call for opening four or five stores a year. To help finance that expansion, G.I. Joes agreed last month to sell a majority of its stock to Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm.


For its 2006 fiscal year, which ended Jan. 31, G.I. Joes had sales of about $235 million, he says.


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