Marshall Clark, president and broker at Clark Pacific Real Estate Co., of Spokane, says he’s seen a recent surge in commercial real estate activity in the northeastern Washington town of Colville and North Idaho border town of Oldtown.

Recent transactions Clark has brokered there include the Grocery Outlet lease in Colville and the Dollar Tree lease in Oldtown.

Grocery Outlet, which is scheduled to open on Dec. 7, will occupy 21,000 square feet of space and employ 30 to 40 people, says Marc Drasin, vice president of real estate for Emeryville, Calif.-based Grocery Outlet Inc.

The store will be located in a newly reconstructed site in the South Main Plaza, at 980 S. Main Street, in Colville, about 70 miles northwest of Spokane.

That site has been vacant since an Excel Super Foods supermarket closed there 15 years ago.

Clark says he’s also the leasing agent for a 4,200-square-foot retail bay that’s available adjacent to the Grocery Outlet site.

In Oldtown, Clark and Brian Anderson, of Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., negotiated the lease for a new Dollar Tree outlet.

The store, part of the Chesapeake, Va.-based chain of bargain stores, opened a month ago, occupying 12,000 square feet of space in a retail center at 203 E. Fourth, about 45 miles northeast of Spokane.

The operator there couldn’t be reached for comment.

The neighboring Ben Franklin variety store closed shortly before the Dollar Tree store opened, but it wasn’t for lack of retail activity, Clark asserts.

He notes that a Shopko Hometown department store opened in Oldtown a year ago. The town will soon see an O’Reilly Auto Parts store, and a Burger King restaurant is envisioned at the former Ben Franklin site, he adds.

“I’m seeing a resurgence in some of these small towns,” he says, adding that he expects to close another commercial real estate transaction this month.

“It goes in waves,” Clark says of the outlying towns. “I had no listings there, and all of a sudden I had seven listings.”

Retail & Service

Evolve Fitness LLC, a new Spokane Valley personal training studio, has leased 1,700 square feet of space in a multitenant building at 5615 E. Trent. Drew Ulrick, of NAI Black, and Doug Byrd and Sharon Reynolds, both of Byrd Real Estate Group LLC, handled the transaction.

WS Real Estate LLC, the real estate holding company for Spokane-based SLI Holdings LLC, which does business as Wheel Sport bicycle shops, has bought the 3,200-square-foot former Northgate Auto Specialists building at 9501 N. Newport Highway for a new bike shop. Colin Conway, of Kiemle & Hagood Co., and Marshall Clark, of Clark Pacific Real Estate Co., handled the transaction. Wheel Sport also has bike shops at 1711 N. Division, 3020 S. Grand Blvd., and 606 N. Sullivan.

Investment & Development

Cascadia Development LLC, a Yakima-based developer and operator of senior residential facilities, has bought for $403,000 a nearly 5-acre parcel of land at 4515 S. Freya, where it plans to develop the proposed 60-bed Fieldstone Memory Care project. Matthew Byrd, of SVN Cornerstone, and James S. Black III, of NAI Black, brokered the transaction.

Jim Parker, a prominent North Idaho auto dealer, has bought as an investment nearly 2 acres of land zoned for retail use at 5273 N. Government Way, in Coeur d’Alene. Craig Hunter and Rob Kannapien, both of Coldwell Banker Commercial Schneidmiller Realty, handled the transaction.

David Lund, of Santa Barbara, Calif., has bought as an investment a 2,500-square-foot, four-unit apartment building at 720 S. Adams. Matthew Byrd, of SVN Cornerstone, and Torie Foote, of Coldwell Banker Tomlinson North, handled the transaction.