View Larger Map

The Pizza Oven restaurant near Gonzaga University, at 829 E Boone, has shut down.

The restaurant is the second eatery in the retail strip to have closed. Last year, Noodle Works shut down after a few months operation. The property was developed by Spokane resident John Stockton.

Attempts to reach Pizza Oven owner Matt Rai were unsuccessful. He continues operating a Pizza Oven in River Park Square downtown.

Rai posted a sign on his Boone Avenue store blaming the closure on a general contractor who allegedly failed to pay the subcontractors who finished building the store.

The location used to be the home of Mark Starr's David's Pizza. Starr continues to have plans to reopen that business in downtown Spokane.

CORRECTED Feb. 23, 10:30 a.m.

Gonzaga University will break ground this spring on a $14 million, four-story building that will add about 650 parking spaces and ground-level dining options for students and area residents.

The new building, which will replace a surface parking lot, will be bordered by Hamilton and Cincinnati streets and DeSmet and Boone avenues. When finished in January  2013, the 250,000-square-foot Gonzaga Retail and Parking Center will be the new home of GU’s campus bookstore and eventually several retail businesses.

The building will have three levels above ground, one underground.

The building will have four levels, GU officials said.

GU school has no immediate plan to sign leases for retail space because it needs to use some of the ground level as a temporary student dining area at some point.

GU’s student dining hall is currently in the COG Building in the center of campus. That building will eventually be demolished to make way for a larger University Center.

RENDERING: ALSC Architects.