The Manito Shopping Center on Spokane's South Hill, located at the southeast corner of Grand Boulevard and 29th Avenue, is receiving a facelift, with several renovation projects under way or slated to begin this year.

Remodeling work has started on a previously announced Ross Dress for Less retail store that's slated to open later this year in part of the old Gottschalks Inc. department store. Plans for that store were disclosed about a year ago, but an extensive design process kept work from getting under way until now, project representatives say.

Meantime, another national retailer is negotiating to lease about 10,000 square feet of space in the western portion of the former Gottschalks space, says John Bennett, president of Spokane-based Black Realty Management Inc., a NAI Black company that represents the center's owner, Manito Shopping Center Associates LLC.

"We've received an offer that has been countered, and we are in ongoing negotiations with them," Bennett says. He declines to disclose the name of the potential tenant until the transaction is completed, which he says he expects to occur within a month or so.

Rosauers Supermarkets Inc., of Spokane, which owns a Super 1 Foods grocery store on the east end of the 123,000-square-foot shopping center, plans to spend between $3 million and $4 million on exterior and interior upgrades to that store, says Rosauers' President Jeff Philipps. That work is planned to begin next month, Philipps says.

In the Ross store space, Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, is making both interior and exterior tenant improvements at a cost of about $1.2 million, says Tim Stulc, vice president of construction at Vandervert. He says work is expected to be completed in late August.

Stulc says the store could open in early fall, but Ross hasn't announced its opening date yet.

The Ross Dress for Less retail chain is operated by Pleasanton, Calif.-based Ross Stores Inc., which agreed about a year ago to lease 28,000 square feet of the 40,000-square-foot former Gottschalks space. The space has been vacant for about two years. Ross Dress for Less stores sell discounted apparel, accessories, shoes, and home wares. The Manito store will be the fourth Ross in the Inland Northwest. The company currently operates stores in Spokane Valley, on Spokane's North Side, and in Coeur d'Alene.

Stulc says the interior currently is being gutted, and the exterior facade of the building soon will undergo extensive improvements, including a courtyard-style entry plaza and columns on the face of the building.

"It will be a dramatic transformation and a nice upgrade to the space," Stulc says. "It's been several years since any significant updates" were made there.

Spokane-based Bernardo Wills Architects PC designed the upgrades to the Ross space, Stulc says.

While the announcement was made about a year ago that Ross would lease the former Gottschalks' space, Stulc says that the delay in the start of construction was due to the project's extensive design process.

Adds Bennett, "The deal was always in place; there was no question of commitment by Ross. The architectural work just took time."

One change to the outside of the building was made since Bernardo Wills Architects released about a year ago a sketch of the potential improvements, Bennett says. That drawing showed a gable-roofed open-air stairway between the first and second levels of the building, but that planned stairway has been removed, Bennett says.

Besides the improvements being made for the new Ross store and negotiations for another national-operating tenant, Bennett and Stulc say work is under way to finalize a construction contract for another new tenant, Manito Tap House.

Stulc says Vandervert also will be the contractor for that tenant's improvements, which will be made to a space on the lower level and the northwest corner of the shopping center facing Grand.

The approximately 3,200 square-foot space that Manito Tap House will take formerly housed the Pear Tree Inn, which closed last June.

Patrick McPherson, the owner of the new restaurant going into that space, says build-out work likely will begin in three to four weeks from early May, and that he hopes to have it open in August.

McPherson says the Manito Tap House will serve what he contends will be high-end menu items, and adds that he also has plans to feature around 40 draft beers there.

Separate from the Ross and Manito Tap House projects, Rosauers is seeking bids for the planned renovation work to its Super 1 Foods store there.

Philipps says Rosauers hopes to select a contractor for those improvements in the next couple of weeks, so that work can begin in early June. Construction is expected to take six to seven months, he says, adding that the Super 1 store will remain open during construction.

The outside of the store will be designed so it complements the work being done at the Ross store, Philipps says. ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, is designing the upgrades to the Super 1 store,.

Philipps says this will be the third of the Super 1 stores owned by Rosauers to be renovated. The company also owns Super 1 stores in Ellensburg, Walla Walla, and Colville, Wash. The stores in Ellensburg and Colville both were updated about three years ago, he says.

He says the design of the Manito store won't be similar to those stores.

"This store is going to have a much more modern look and will fit into the neighborhood," he says.

In addition to the exterior upgrades, the inside of the 52,500-square-foot space will be reconfigured and fitted with new shelving, refrigeration cases, and lighting.

The upgrade of the South Hill store has been planned by Rosauers for some time, Philipps says, and the timing with the other projects at the Manito Shopping Center didn't influence the company's decision to move forward .

"We are in the final stages of a complete remodel of all of our stores," he says.