Motel Project Wins Zoning Approval For Freeway Location
Business
Two property owners are one step closer to seeing a 125-unit motel built on their land near the Liberty Lake freeway interchange.
The county hearing examiner committee last week granted a zoning change request made by Roy Leland and Nathan Marks. The committee changed the area’s zoning from light industrial to regional business use.
The 15.6-acre parcel is on Harvard Road just north of Interstate 90’s Liberty Lake interchange.
In addition to the motel, the landowners also have plans for other businesses there.
Lorne Lakshas, a county land use planner, said Leland and Marks also would like approval for a 6,000-square-foot restaurant and a convenience store.
There was no recorded opposition to the zone change, Lakshas said.
A change in zoning doesn’t necessarily mean a specific business can be built there. Lakshas said a binding site plan will also have to be approved by the hearing examiner committee.
The spot is a developer’s dream because of its proximity to the freeway interchange, said John Konen, a development consultant for David Evans and Associates. That firm is working with Leland and Marks on the project.
Before anything goes up, though, an “extensive utility and a road network would have to be installed,” Konen said. Still, he thinks work could begin soon providing the paperwork gets done.
“We intend to be under construction by spring (of 1996), if we can hustle it through the process,” Konen said.
Home Depot construction
Home Depot USA, the Atlanta-based home improvement chain, announced it will start construction of a new 130,000-square-foot store here next spring.
The hearing examiner committee last week approved a zoning change allowing the company to build the store along Fancher Road, just north of Sprague Avenue behind the Denny’s restaurant there. The site is now zoned for regional business use, and was previously zoned for heavy industrial use.
Jennifer Swearingen, a company spokeswoman, said the store should open in late 1996. Swearingen estimates the new store will create between 175 and 200 jobs here.
Home Depot is North America’s largest home center retailer, with gross sales in 1994 of more than $12.4 billion. The company currently operates 376 stores in the United States and 17 in Canada.
The Valley location will be the company’s first in Eastern Washington.
Au Croissant staying - for now
The owners of Au Croissant may still keep their University City Shopping Center restaurant open, although the downtown spot will close for sure Oct. 7.
Owners Ahmad and Fery Haghighi said they may relocate to the Seattle area, and give the restaurant business a try there. They said their downtown restaurant (recently renamed “Fery’s”) was the victim of decreased foot traffic.
Ahmad’s sister, Nini Haghighi, who runs the U-City Au Croissant with her husband, Hassan Rahmani, said the Valley spot will stay open through the end of the year. Then, it’s up to mall owners.
“The U-City mall just isn’t doing well,” she said. “We’re waiting to see if they are going to do anything (to change that).”
, DataTimes