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

Grocer To Anchor Retail Complex Post Falls Project Hinges On Road Improvements

Eric Torbenson Staff writer

An Albertson’s Food Center will likely anchor a new retail complex off Interstate 90 in Post Falls if some tricky road improvements fall into place.

The project - which also is expected to include fast-food restaurants, a brewpub, a bank and perhaps a strip mall - would extend the growing retail corridor that extends from the state line toward Coeur d’Alene.

Development along Seltice Way parallel to the interstate has boomed since the Factory Outlets mall opened in Post Falls in May 1991.

But for the Albertson’s project to move forward, road improvements must be made off I-90 Exit 7, which spills traffic onto Seltice Way.

The development needs a short road to split the supermarket from the rest of the stores. Post Falls City Council on Tuesday approved that road extending from Seltice to Third Avenue. The site for the Albertson’s is currently home to Northern Beverage. The wine and beer wholesaler has a 20,000-square-foot building that will be torn down.

Tomlinson/Black commercial Realtor Monte Risvold “walked in the door one day and asked us if we would be interested in selling,” said Dale Scarlett, owner of the company. “Of course, everything’s for sale for the right price,” although he wouldn’t say what that price was.

Without approval from various government agencies to get the traffic lights changed and other infrastructure in place, the deal might not happen, Risvold said. But he remains confident the project, in the works for more than two years, will get done.

Northern Beverage’s 5.8-acre parcel would be cleared and Albertson’s will most likely build a 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot store there in 1997, said Risvold.

Retail development has boomed in Post Falls in recent years. Developers broke ground last month for a complex anchored by a six-plex movie theater and two ice rinks on Seltice Way near Harpers Inc.

The new development around the Albertson’s will also include a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and a new brewhouse restaurant called Falls Brew Pub. Risvold expects to close a deal soon with another fast food chain, and a fourth development site could hold a bank, another restaurant or perhaps a strip mall, he said.

, DataTimes