Right mix of shops

Bill Jones has lived in northwest Spokane for 77 years – before there was a Shadle Park, a Shadle High School or a Shadle Center.

“I remember when it was just grass and weeds. I’ve seen all the changes here,” said Jones, a volunteer at COPS Northwest, on the southeast side of Shadle Center.

Over the years he’s seen the 45-year-old shopping center prosper and decline several times. Before the current owners purchased the center, it was like a ghost town. JC Penney moved out, several stores went out of business and it was “going downhill,” said Jones.

“They were losing a lot of tenants, but now it’s been rejuvenated. There’s no question that it’s been good for the neighborhood. From what I’ve heard people like it, and hopefully it will continue,” said Jones.

P2J2 Associates LLC paid $6.6 million for the center in 1997 and since then has invested $17-18 million at the shopping center.

“When we bought it there were several tenants in bankruptcy. Newberry’s, Lamonts, Ernst, just to name a few. That was the first challenge and then the second was trying to figure out what we would do with it after we bought it,” said Paul Hawkins, one of the partners and a real estate broker at Hawkins Edwards.

The revitalized center currently has 287,000 square feet of retail space, 23 tenants and about 1,400 parking spaces. The last remaining building in the center was recently finished, and the center is 100 percent leased.

The value of Shadle is in its location and demographics. There are about 85,000 people within a five-minute drive of the center, said Hawkins.

The people were always there, but the center needed stronger retailers that could draw shoppers, Hawkins said.

Things began to turn around in 2000 with the addition of Wal-Mart, followed by a new Safeway.

“Because of Wal-Mart, the project has life, vitality and synergy,” said Hawkins.

Charles Smith, a retired retailer, agreed. “The center was dead. It was on its way out. It’s changed a lot because of Wal-Mart. It’s been a positive for the economy, but a negative for the traffic,” said Smith.

Hawkins said that the key to success is in the selection of tenants. “Based on the tenants that we have there and the success of sales, we’ve found the right mix.”

N.W. Beauty Supply and Salon moved from NorthTown to Shadle six months ago. “Because we’re not in a mall it’s easier for people to get to us. We’re doing awesome here. Our stylists are busy all the time,” said manager Kris Favaro.

“There’s now more variety here. It’s updated, and it attracts younger people but still has things that older people need as well. There’s a diverse group of businesses. That’s what it takes to make it,” said Favaro.

Shadle Center history

When Shadle Center opened in 1961 it was the first major shopping center built outside the downtown Spokane core. JC Penney was the anchor tenant with J.J. Newberrys, Payless Drugs and Emily’s Children’s Wear among the 26 tenants at the center.

In the 1960s and early ‘70s, Shadle and NorthTown remained fairly competitive as North Side community retail centers. But as far back as 1976, when local founders sold Shadle to Los Angeles investors Century Properties, the center began slipping. The new owners had plans to enclose the mall, build another department store and add a dozen new shops. But as interest rates began to rise, revitalization plans for Shadle sank.

The center was sold to California-based Standard Management Company in 1985.

In the summer of 1991, JC Penney moved to NorthTown. Standard Management filed for bankruptcy that December. Creditors and Century Properties acquired Shadle again.

P2J2 Associates purchased the aging retail center in 1997 for $6.6 million. According to Paul Hawkins, one of the partners, they have invested $17-$18 million in the center. There are currently 23 tenants and the space is 100 percent leased.