Spokane businessman Ahmad Haghighi plans to develop a two-story, $1 million retail-and-office building on Spokanes South Hill.


The project is proposed for two-thirds of an acre at the southwest corner of 55th Avenue and Regal Street. As envisioned, the building would have 8,900 square feet of floor space, with 5,900 square feet of space on the ground floor and 3,000 square feet on the second level, says Dwight Hume, a land-use consultant who is representing Haghighi as the project moves through the county-approval process.


The proposed development needs a zone change, to mixed-use zoning from low-density residential, before it can move forward, Hume says. A hearing on the zone-change request is scheduled for May 24.


Haghighi says he hopes to receive the zone change and break ground on the structure in mid-summer or early fall. The structure likely will take five months to six months to complete, he says.


No tenants have agreed to lease space in the building yet, but Haghighi says he currently is negotiating with banks that are interested in taking the entire first floor. He hopes to know within a month whether a bank tenant will be going into the building.


If that materializes, it changes the design for the whole first floor, he says.


Spokane architect Donald E. Neraas is designing the proposed structure. A contractor hasnt been selected yet to build it.


Haghighi and his wife, Fery, own and operate Ferys Catering, located at 421 S. Cowley, at the base of Spokanes South Hill. Prior to starting Ferys Catering, the Haghighis owned an Au Croissant Bakery outlet in downtown Spokane.


Contact Linn Parish at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at linnp@spokanejournal.com.