Shadle Center Gets New Owner Puget Sound Company Buys Spokane Shopping Center For $6.6 Million

A Puget Sound development company bought an aging Spokane shopping center last week, breathing new life into on-again-off-again plans for revitalization.

P2J2 Associates paid California-based Century Properties Fund XI $6.6 million for the 36-year-old Shadle Center. The 281,691-square-foot shopping center is located on the south side of Wellesley, between Belt and Alberta.

“It will always be a neighborhood center,” said Paul Hawkins, a partner in P2J2. “It’s a tremendous opportunity. It’s surrounded by houses.”

P2J2 outbid seven other potential buyers, paying $100,000 more than the asking price, said Dave Black, CEO of Tomlinson Black Group of Cos., the mall’s former manager.

Hawkins said his Spokane company, Hawkins Edwards, will take over property management from Tomlinson Black, which will be a consultant to the property, handling negotiations with tenants in bankruptcy.

Three of the center’s biggest tenants are in bankruptcy, with only Lamont’s continuing to operate a store.

Both Newberry’s and Ernst closed earlier this year, but continue to pay their leases, Hawkins said.

The new owner hopes to keep all the current tenants and attract new ones as it works toward redeveloping the mall into a vibrant neighborhood center, Hawkins said.

P2J2 also plans to continue following a proposed redevelopment plan which includes moving the Safeway store into the former J.C. Penney space, enlarging it to about 55,000 square feet from about 35,000.

Plans also called for demolition of the enclosed mall and placement of tenants in a line, anchored by the new Safeway, Payless Drug Store, Lamont’s and other tenants.

Also, a 20,000-square-foot building was to be built to house Chuck E. Cheese and other retailers.

Hawkins said the new owner would “try to build around that concept. The first thing will be Safeway,” he said. “From that would stem the rest of the development.”

No contracts have been signed yet with Safeway or other tenants.

Shadle was opened in 1961 by two Spokane businessmen, who sold the center for $7 million to Century in 1976. Century sold Shadle for $8 million in 1985 to Standard Management Corp., another California real estate firm.

J.C. Penney moved out in 1991, and Standard filed for bankruptcy four months later. A court appointed James S. Black & Co. - which merged with the Tomlinson Real Estate Group in 1995 to form Tomlinson Black - to operate the mall in May 1993.

Century bought the mall back in the fall of 1993 for about $7.2 million.

It was put up for sale again in August 1996.

, DataTimes