Auto Showroom, Test Track Planned For Liberty Lake
A Seattle auto dealer has purchased land at Liberty Lake, where he plans to build a Land Rover showroom and test track.
Biff Brotherton plans to construct an 8,600-square-foot building at Molter Road and Knox Avenue that will have exposure to traffic on Interstate 90. The project will cost $1.5 million, and construction will begin in the next few weeks. Brotherton, who owns four auto dealerships in the Seattle area, said he hopes to have the showroom open by December.
The dealership will be the first new-car retailer at Liberty Lake and the first Land Rover dealership in Eastern Washington.
Customers will be able to test drive the upscale, British-made sports utility vehicles on a hilly, 150-foot dirt track behind the rustic, cabin-like Land Rover showroom at Liberty Lake.
“It’s better than tearing up the neighbor’s yard,” Brotherton said.
Brotherton said he chose Liberty Lake because it is halfway between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.
It also has a growing population of high-tech industry employees.
In the Seattle area, he said, “Microsoft is our biggest customer base.” Brotherton is expecting similar interest in Land Rovers from employees of high-tech companies at Liberty Lake.
New Northwest Seed & Pet store
Northwest Seed & Pet Inc. is building a new pet and garden store next to the Huckleberry’s Fresh Market at Sprague and Sullivan.
Site preparation has already begun for the 20,000-square foot building. The company plans to open the store at the end of November, said Dave Tefft, assistant manager of the Northwest Seed & Pet store at 2422 E. Sprague. Tefft will be manager of the new store at Sprague and Sullivan.
Last year, Northwest Seed & Pet closed its store at University City, Tefft said. Northwest Seed & Pet currently has two Spokane stores: on East Sprague and at 7302 N. Division. Those stores employ about 60 people, Tefft said. The store at Sprague and Sullivan will employ between 20 and 30 people, he said.
The new store will have a 16-foot atrium with a waterfall and koi pond and a greenhouse.
Market opens at 16th and Pines
After spending the summer selling fruit and vegetables from a tent at Mullan and Sprague, Rick Phillips and Jodi Gleave have opened a new produce market at 16th and Pines.
RJ’s Fresh Market opened Oct. 1 in an 8,000-square-foot building that once housed an Exxon gas station.
Besides selling produce they buy from local farmers, Phillips and Gleave also operate an espresso stand with drive-through service.
“It’s really kind of what we wanted to do,” Phillips said. “It’s a cute little market.”
Phillips formerly worked for Harry O’s in East Spokane.
Frito-Lay expanding warehouse
Frito-Lay plans to more than double the size of its Valley distribution center.
The warehouse at 10606 E. Montgomery is being enlarged from 10,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet, said George Landis, regional sales manager for Frito-Lay.
The snack food distributor’s sales in the Spokane area have grown more than 20 percent in the last five years, Landis said.
Construction of the $1.3 million warehouse addition will begin in March and should be completed by July of 1998.
, DataTimes