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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Discovered At Last Businesses And Developers Are Beating A Path To Pines And Mission Intersection

Grayden Jones Staff writer

After years of being largely ignored by commercial developers, the intersection of Pines and Mission suddenly has gotten hot.

Three of four corners at the heavily traveled intersection are slated this year for new projects that amount to millions in capital investment.

The changes also may result in demolition of the Spokane Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, a 44-year-old landmark overlooking Interstate 90.

“Somebody has analyzed this market and decided it can handle all this activity,” said Jamie Wolff, a real estate attorney and developer of a 3.5-acre vacant lot across the street from the church. “It’s amazing that a site of this caliber has been sitting there undeveloped for the last 20 years.”

Earthmovers already are preparing Wolff’s site at the northwest corner of Pines and Mission. The first phase of construction on the $4.5 million, multi-use project should begin late this month and be completed in June.

Wolff’s project is across Mission from Pines Towne Center, a strip shopping center that houses Premier Video, the Jewelry Design Center and others.

The first phase of Wolff’s project is an 18,000-square-foot brick building to house two Valley shops, the Quilting Bee and Homestead Handcrafts. The Quilting Bee is owned by his wife, Jackie.

The second phase will be a three-story headquarters for Tomlinson Valley Inc., a real estate office currently located at Broadway and Pines. Owner Bob Tomlinson and Realtor Fred Meyer are partners in the office development with Wolff, who is cousin to Alvin J. “Fritz” Wolff Jr., a Valley apartment developer.

The final phase calls for a national fast-food restaurant chain at the curb of Pines and Mission, Wolff said. Wolff declined to identify the company, but a nearby landowner said it could be a Hardee’s restaurant.

Jim Redmon, general manager of Divine’s Corp. in Spokane, said Hardee’s canceled a deal last year to buy the Divine’s property at the southeast corner of Pines and Mission and build a restaurant. He said the chain has switched to Wolff’s site.

Meanwhile, Divine’s is spending $1.1 million to replace an aging Cenex-brand station with a state-of-the-art service station, rental car business and possible carwash. The project will open in March, with eight maintenance bays and 12 employees.

“It’s scary to invest that kind of money, but we’re not going in blind,” said Redmon, who operates seven area gas stations.

Redmon said Cenex did a traffic count that found 29,000 cars on average drive down Pines each day. That doesn’t count the vehicles traveling Mission.

While heavy traffic is good for a gas station, it’s not necessarily the best for a church and school.

The Adventists, who operate a kindergarten through ninth-grade school, have agreed to sell their four-acre site at the northeast corner of Pines and Mission to a hotel and restaurant developer, said church secretary Lola Lile. She declined to name the developer or hotel.

The church has purchased 15 acres at the southeast corner of Sullivan and 16th, where it will build a larger facility, Lile said.