A new Home Depot Inc. store announced for Liberty Lake early this year now is expected to be part of a much bigger, $35 million retail development planned by an out-of-state real estate group.


The group, which has formed a joint venture called WRI/LLA Ventures, plans to build what will be known as The Village at Liberty Lake on 47 acres of land between Country Vista Drive and Interstate 90, less than a quarter-mile west of the Liberty Lake interchange, says Jeff Leon, WRI/LLAs San Francisco-based spokesman.


Its a strategic location immediately adjacent to a freeway, and theres a need for services, Leon says. Theres tremendous growth potential.


Leon says the retail center likely will be developed in two phases and is expected to include between 400,000 and 450,000 square feet of retail space eventually. WRI/LLA has an option to buy the entire 47-acre site and is scheduled later this month to complete its purchase of 17 1/2 acres for the first phase.


Work on the $10 million first phase, which will be anchored by the Home Depot store, is slated to start late this month at the eastern end of the site. That phase will take about a year to complete.


Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the general contractor on the project, and Bernardo-Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, is designing it.


A Home Depot representative couldnt be reached for comment, but has said previously that the big, Atlanta-based home-improvement retailer plans to open its Liberty Lake store next year, employing 125 people.


Mary Wren-Wilson, of the city of Liberty Lake, says Home Depot has applied for a building permit for that store, but the city hadnt issued the permit yet as of earlier this week. According to the building-permit application, the planned store will include about 102,000 square feet of floor space, plus a 30,000-square-foot garden center.


Leon says the joint venture also plans to develop three retail pads as part of the overall projects first phase. He says WRI/LLA plans to build a 10,000-square-foot multitenant retail building on a speculative basis on one of those pads. Also, the company is negotiating with a financial institution that would take another pad and will gauge interest in the third pad once construction of the planned buildings there is under way.


Development of the second phase will be tenant driven, and the joint venture hasnt set a schedule for development there yet, Leon says. He envisions, however, more big-box retailers at that site, along with a mix of mini-anchors that take around 25,000 square feet of floor space and smaller shops. That phase of work would be located west of the Home Depot store.


WRI/LLA is a joint venture between Weingarten Realty Investors Inc., of Houston, and three San Francisco-based development companiesPratt Co., Reininga Corp., and Rawson, Blum & Leon Inc., for which Leon is the vice president of acquisitions.


Weingarten is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust that has 350 properties289 shopping centers and 61 industrial propertiesin 20 states.


The San Francisco companies, which frequently have developed properties together as The Alliance, have been involved in developing retail centers throughout the western U.S.


Leon says the companies became interested in the Liberty Lake area after talking with Jim Quigley, of Kiemle & Hagood Co., of Spokane, at a commercial real estate convention last year.


In addition to being an attractive site because of its visibility from the freeway, its a good location because of its proximity to upscale neighborhoods, such as Legacy Ridge, which Coeur dAlene developer Marshall Chesrown is developing, Leon says. That development is to include 200 homes in two phases, all of which are expected to be valued at between $425,000 and $1 million.


This will be a great amenity for Legacy Ridge, Leon says.


The quickly growing city of Liberty Lake has an estimated population of 4,950, up from about 3,650 when the city formally incorporated in 2001.


Current retail centers in Liberty Lake include the 110,000-square-foot Liberty Lake Town Center, along Liberty Lake Road, and the 75,000-square-fooot Liberty Lake Plaza, across that street from the Town Center complex.