Hardware Giant Scouts North Side Building Site Home Depot Could Displace Existing Building Supply Firm

Home improvement giant Home Depot is considering a North Spokane site for a second Eastern Washington store - at the site of Country Homes Building Supply near the North Division Y.

A meeting has been scheduled May 2 to take public comment and determine what traffic study should be undertaken, said Lou Dobberstein, traffic engineering assistant for the city of Spokane.

Work already is under way for a 130,000-square-foot Home Depot store near Sprague and Fancher in the Spokane Valley.

Home Depot is interested in building a 105,600-square-foot store with a 24,132-square-foot garden center at U.S. Highway 2 and Hoerner.

The store would replace Country Homes Building Supply and an adjoining strip center on the east side of the highway. The site is across the street from Heritage Village Shopping Center, and just north of Mel’s Nursery on North Division.

Niles Selden, owner of Country Homes Building Supply, said his company will move somewhere else in North Spokane if the Home Depot deal goes through.

“I don’t look at it as an ending,” said Selden, whose family has owned the building supply company for 50 years. “I look at it as an opportunity.”

The property already is zoned for commercial use, so Home Depot’s first step is to handle any potential environmental concerns, Dobberstein said.

“As part of a building process, they’ll have to do a SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) checklist,” he said. “They need to get the environmental stuff out of the way.”

Results of the traffic study will be released during a second public meeting and plans will be submitted to the city for review and comment, Dobberstein said.

The May 2 meeting is at 7:30 p.m. at the Cedar Creek Village Club House at Magnesium and Nevada.

For information, call 458-6840.

, DataTimes