A California development company has applied to Spokane County for a permit to build a Walgreens Pharmacy at the southwest corner of Division Street and Cascade Way at the site of the former Matties Restaurant & Bakery.


The company, Browman Development Co., of Oakland, Calif., is seeking permission to build a 15,120-square-foot pharmacy with a drive-through prescription pick-up area at that location, 7905 N. Division. The permit application lists the value of the project at almost $560,000. The 1.5-acre site is owned by Douglass-Vandervert Development, a Spokane development partnership.


The partnership also was part-owner of A&G Restaurant Inc., which owned and operated Matties. The restaurant closed sometime back to make way for the pharmacy, says Dick Vandervert, a partner in Douglass-Vandervert Development.


Robs Demolition, of Spokane, has razed the Matties building, and Michael Miller, director of development at Browman, says construction of the pharmacy will start when permits have been obtained and the weather allows.


Although Miller says a construction contract hasnt been signed yet, the building permit application lists Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, as the general contractor. Hahn Engineering Inc., of Spokane, prepared site plans for the new pharmacy, and Coffman Engineers Inc., also of Spokane, is listed as the architect and engineer for the project.


Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co. has seven Walgreens RxPress stores in the Spokane area. Last summer, the company announced plans to replace its smaller RxPress outlets with full-size stores. Company spokesman Michael Polzin says Walgreens is looking for sites here for the new larger stores, but doesnt have signed leases yet on any Spokane-area sites.


The planned North side store would be open 24 hours a day, say county records. Walgreens outlets of that size typically employ 25 to 30 people, the drug retailers web site says.