Road Widening Project May Signal Expansion Ahead For U-City Mall County, Company Form Pact To Improve University Road

A plan to improve University Road is the first substantial sign that University City Shopping Center hasn’t dropped the major expansion announced in 1992.

After several months of keeping quiet about expanding U-City, a mall official said recently that the project is still moving along.

Expansion plans were never put on a back burner, said Orville Barnes, who manages the mall: “They’ve been more highly promoted and worked on at other times.”

On Tuesday, county commissioners unanimously approved a proposed agreement with U-City for improvement of University Road. Two weeks earlier, the commissioners had tabled the proposal.

The four-lane road will be widened to seven lanes between Fourth and Riverside, said county engineer Ron Hormann. A left-turn lane and a lane in each direction will be added.

The $2 million project could begin as soon as this summer, he said.

When Spokane County granted a zone change allowing the mall’s expansion, it required improvements to University Road.

U-City will pay for about $231,000 of the road project, said Barnes, who is president of McCarthy Management and Development Co., a subsidiary of Goodale & Barbieri.

“If all the things come together, (the expansion) would be a very significant project,” Barnes said.

In addition to beefing up the part of the mall housing Lamonts, Barnes said that space for two more anchor tenants would be added to the 423,972-square-foot mall.

The 30-year-old mall may expand to between 600,000 and 800,000 square feet, he said.

“In general, it will have a very upbeat, modern look.”

Barnes declined to comment on prospects of luring The Bon Marche to the Spokane Valley, saying only, “They’re obviously one of the potential tenants for U-City.”