Sierra Development LLC, an investment group headed by Spokane developer Dick Vandervert, plans to break ground next month on two big retail centers on opposite sides of Spokane Countyone at Cheney and the other at Liberty Lakethat both will be anchored by Safeway supermarkets.


The two projects, which are expected to have a combined cost of about $13.5 million and a total of more than 200,000 square feet of retail space, are scheduled to open in February 2000, Vandervert says.


Safeway Stores Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif., has secured 55,000 square feet of space in the Liberty Lake project and 45,000 square feet of space in the Cheney development, says Jim Quigley, a real estate agent for Kiemle & Hagood Co. who represented both Safeway and Sierra Development in the transactions.


Russell C. Page Architects, of Spokane, designed the retail centers, and Vandervert Construction Inc., which Vandervert owns, will be the general contractor for both projects.


The $8 million-plus Cheney project, called Cheney Plaza, is the larger of the two developments. As envisioned, it will involve construction of 130,000 square feet of retail space, including six pads for free-standing commercial buildings, on a 30-acre parcel at the southwest corner of state Route 904 and Betz Road.


Hollywood Video has agreed to lease 5,000 square feet of space in the Cheney retail center, and the Carls Jr. fast-food chain plans to build a 3,500-square-foot restaurant on one of the pads in the center, Vandervert says. A Conoco gas station already has been built at the south end of the development site and is open for business.


At Liberty Lake, the retail center, named Liberty Lake Plaza, is expected to include 75,000 square feet of floor space on a site of just over 10 acres at the northwest corner of the Liberty Lake Road-Country Vista Drive intersection.


Vandervert says several small businesses, including a dry-cleaning operation and a take-out pizza store, have committed to take space in the Liberty Lake center, but he declines to name any specific tenants other than Safeway.


The planned new shopping center is across Liberty Lake Road from Liberty Lake Town Center, a 70,000-square-foot retail center that another Vandervert-led concern bought for $4.8 million about a month ago.


In addition to Vanderverts endeavors, Sonrise Investment LLC, an investment company that Quigley and his brother, Tom Quigley, set up with an undisclosed party, has bought 1.7 acres of vacant land just east of Vanderverts project on Liberty Lake Road.


Jim Quigley says Sonrise hasnt firmed up plans for that land yet, but he envisions a small retail center there anchored by a sit-down restaurant.