The Land Rush Post Falls Expo Site Is Creating A Spurt Of Development All Around It
Land development signs are sprouting up like weeds on a prairie on a few hundred acres off the highway in Post Falls. “Expo sites available, retail, restaurant, offices, industrial,” announces one. “Now leasing: available September 1, 1995,” says another. A third, posted on the edge of 21 acres - “For Sale, Jack Hatch Co.” - is a sign of things to come.
Development companies, and now their tenants, are understandably drawn to the site, which already has been established as a “destination” by their neighbor to the south, the Factory Outlets. The visibility from the highway also is appealing.
Although most of the projects undertaken so far are modest in comparison to developer Jim Watson’s original goals, he remains enthusiastic about Post Falls’ potential.
“Ten years from now, you won’t believe what the I-90 corridor is going to be,” said Watson, the developer of Expo.
To make way for expected development, the Post Falls City Council approved a proposal Tuesday night which paves the way to widen the road that heads north from the highway. Barring any problems, Pleasant View Road will be expanded from two lanes to four, with a center turn lane. Fifth Avenue, heading east from the intersection with Pleasant View, also will be upgraded to handle increased traffic.
“If we’re going to be forward-thinking, let’s start putting the infrastructure in now,” said Post Falls Mayor Jim Hammond. “Really, what we’re dealing with now is the old county two-lane road.”
On the west side of that old road, the first signs of the long-touted Expo have sprung into view. But the only tenants so far are a Texaco gas station and a Burger King restaurant. Bruchi’s, a sandwich shop, and Village Inn Pancake House Restaurant are expected to open by early summer, Watson said.
The 640-acre Expo project has been dramatically scaled back since its initial conception. It was to be an international supermall, projected to employ 11,000 people and generate $34 million in annual sales taxes. Watson envisioned 3 million square feet of retail space in several power centers as well as a fully enclosed 10-acre regional mall three times the size of NorthTown Mall.
But when Micron Technology Inc. opted not to locate a plant in Post Falls and Price Development Corp. beat Watson in securing tenant commitments for a regional supermall - Price’s Spokane Valley Mall is expected to open in August of 1997 - Watson’s plans shrunk.
Still, Watson said, Expo will have at least one “power center” - a major retailer with smaller ones surrounding it. Fred Meyer was slated to be one of those anchors, but recently backed out. The discount retail giant has decided to “indefinitely not build on the site,” Watson said.
Watson still is inching forward and says he’s negotiating with major retailers that he has “no doubt” Expo will attract. He’s also talking with light industrial companies and other smaller retailers, he said.
Across the street, the Pleasant View Business Center is sporting its first blooms. Two outdoor clothing stores, Rugged Ridge and Western Warehouse, and Mexican restaurant Toro Viejo, opened in October. The Diamond Depot, a retail location for Coeur d’Alene’s Clark’s Jewelry, plans to open this week. Pleasant View Marine Service and Rigging promises to open in the spring of 1996.
“As you fill in the spaces between Coeur d’Alene and Spokane, it all becomes part of the same corridor,” said Dan Clark, owner of Clark’s Jewelry. “It will evolve to a real serious draw to all sides, not the least of which is the Washington side. To us over here, that’s a big carrot.”
Developer BLM Enterprises comprising partners Rob Lewis, John Marcheso and Mike Bibin - also has 30,000 additional square feet of space available for lease behind the first set of buildings. That area will be shaped in a giant L and landscaped in a manner similar to the first block.
The developer responsible for the first few businesses in the area also is bringing up the rear. Twelve years ago, Jack Hatch sold land to the Flying J Truckstop, and followed it up with the Suntree Inn, WTB Trucking, Splash-n-Dash Truck RV Car Wash, and McDonalds. He also sold BLM Enterprises the land their shopping center stands on.
“We got it started out there,” Hatch said.
Idahline Limited Partnership, with Hatch as president, has 21 acres for sale on the northeast corner of Pleasant View and Fifth. Hatch said he entertains five or six offers per month, but no deals have been signed.
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