Two companies from Wisconsin and California bought the former Best Products Co. building and the nearby Cascade Plaza retail strip center in the Northgate Shopping Center in north Spokane for a combined $4.5 million last month.


Continental 80 Fund LLC, an affiliate of Continental Properties Co., of Milwaukee, Wis., and co-investor Gateway Pacific Properties, of Roseville, Calif., acquired both buildings and the land they occupy.


Continental is negotiating with several large retail chains and hopes to have a tenant for the former Best building, at 7680 N. Division, by summer, says Jim Schloemer, the companys owner and president. Virginia-based Best announced last fall that it would close the 70,000-square-foot structure and an outlet in the Spokane Valley. It had filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code earlier.


That building, which had been vacant recently, sold for $2.7 million, while the 27,000-square-foot strip mall sold for $1.8 million. C&S Holdings Inc. and W. Turner Clack Trust, both of Spokane, were the previous owners of the two buildings, according to tax documents filed with the Spokane County assessors office.


Schloemer says that Best, which remains in bankruptcy proceedings, still has lease options on the building it occupied, which is located just north of a Self-Service Furniture Inc. store and the North Division Cinemas. Other businesses in the Northgate Shopping Center include a Pay Less Drug Store, an Albertsons supermarket, The Onion restaurant, a Tony Romas restaurant, and a Seafirst Bank branch.


Cascade Plaza, which provides space for about 10 businesses, is a rectangular-shaped strip building that stretches across part of the south end of the shopping center between Division Street and the movie theater complex.


The plaza may be upgraded, but that work will depend on the needs of the buildings tenants, says Schloemer.


Continental has property investments in about 14 states, mainly in the Midwest, says Schloemer. Gateway, meanwhile, focuses its operation on cities west of Denver, says owner Kent Hallen.


He indicated the companies would like to find other properties here because of the economic strength of the area.


Steve McIntosh, a real estate agent with Kiemle & Hagood Co., of Spokane, and Bob Martin, of Tomlinson Black Commercial Inc., also of Spokane, handled the sale of the properties.