Brian and Judy Jorgensen, a Post Falls couple that owns a small North Idaho chain of pharmacies called Medicine Man Pharmacy Inc., plans to develop a $1.5 million retail center at Liberty Lake.


The couple has applied for a building permit from Spokane County for the project and hopes to break ground within a few weeks on the proposed 12,000-square-foot center, which will be called Heartland Mall.


The project is slated to be built near the northeast corner of Molter Road and Appleway Avenue just south of the new Bergen Brunswick Medical Corp. building. Brian Jorgensen, who is a pharmacist, says Medicine Man hopes to complete construction of the center next April.


NWCC Inc., of Otis Orchards, is the general contractor on the project, and International Design, of Spokane, designed the building.


Jorgensen says Medicine Man plans to open an outlet in a 2,600-square-foot space at the planned retail center. Also, Spokane-area dentist Ken Shue has agreed to lease 1,500 square feet of space there, says Gary McWilliams, of First Real Estate Services LLC, the leasing agent for the property.


McWilliams says a coffee shop and a gift shop also have agreed to lease space in the retail center, but he declines to disclose those companies names. Other potential users include a dry-cleaning business and a hair salon, he says. Between 4,000 square feet and 5,000 square feet of floor space isnt leased out yet.


Jorgensen also plans to fill prescriptions for pets through an e-commerce service called InternetPets Prescription Service in the new store. Medicine Man Pharmacy Inc. recently contracted with Internetpets.com, a Coeur dAlene-based company that sells pet supplies through a web page, to fill all veterinary prescriptions ordered through the site. A Medicine Man Pharmacy owned and operated by the Jorgensens in Coeur dAlene currently is filling the Internetpets.com prescriptions, but that work will be transferred to the Liberty Lake store when it opens. Jorgensen says he expects that aspect of the new stores business to grow rapidly, and he has set aside 1,000 square feet of floor space in the retail center to house InternetPets Prescription Service in the future.


The Medicine Man Pharmacy outlet in Coeur dAlene that the Jorgensens own and operate is at 1114 Ironwood Drive. Medicine Man Pharmacy Inc. has franchised five other Medicine Man stores, all in Kootenai County. The Liberty Lake outlet will be the companys first in the Spokane area. Jorgensen says the company will continue to grow, but there are no immediate plans to open more stores here.