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

Ron’s Drive-In Goes West With A Second Restaurant

Ron’s Drive-In, the long-time Valley fast food restaurant, has opened a second location four miles west.

Two weeks ago, a new Ron’s opened in the former Burger Basket restaurant building, just east of Freya Street on Sprague Avenue.

The original Ron’s opened 40 years ago just east of Pines Road on Sprague.

“It’s a nice compliment to our location,” said owner Denny Hegewald. “There’s faces (of customers) that I haven’t seen before at our other place.”

The new drive-in is half the size of Ron’s 5,000-square foot Valley restaurant. It offers the same burger-and-fries menu.

Hegewald said he and his wife, Pamela Crowell, were interested in the Burger Basket when it first went up for sale a couple of years ago, but were too busy in the Valley to pursue it.

Then six months ago, they purchased the new building. Nine people work at the new restaurant, compared to 40 at the Valley store.

Will Ron’s expand again?

“We certainly wouldn’t rule it out,” Hegewald said.

Millstone Coffee moving

Millstone Coffee’s regional branch office is moving from the corner of Montgomery Avenue and Van Marter Road to 2501 N. Farr.

Millstone will occupy 9,600 square feet in a 14,500-square foot warehouse now going up on Farr Road, said Jeff Galimanis, branch operations manager.

The remaining space is still open for other tenants, said officials at Ball Investments, which is building the warehouse.

The branch office, which services Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana, is moving to the new facility for more warehouse space, Galimanis said.

Construction began in September on the $700,000 warehouse.

Millstone, which employs 22 people here, hopes to move to the new space by January.

New warehouses under construction

Construction of two 4,950-square foot warehouses is under way at the corner of Farr and Fourth.

The two buildings are the final additions to the Fourth Avenue Business Park, owned and developed by Carl Crouch.

Construction should be complete by next spring.

The warehouses are light blue metal with white roofs and concrete floors. They have built-in office space.

“It’s for the type of guy working in the garage, who’s ready to make the jump to a bigger place,” Crouch said.

Presently, the business park at 9517 E. Fourth consists of two warehouses. They’re occupied by one business, Concrete Works which constructs concrete items like fountains and pedestals.

The total cost of constructing all four buildings is $376,000, Crouch said.

Crouch owns Ken’s Mobile Home Repair in the Valley. He’s looking at property in the south Valley for a similar project.

, DataTimes