Valley couple planning new pub

A Spokane Valley business owner said a new restaurant going into the former Painted Hills Golf Course clubhouse will retain a golfing theme.

Scott and Deanna Reckord, who own and operate the Sullivan Scoreboard, plan to open the Clubhouse at Painted Hills as a sports bar and pub in January. Scott Reckord said the leased property at 4403 S. Dishman-Mica will undergo a remodel and construction of a small addition, which will bring its size to about 2,500 square feet.

“We’re going to put in new carpet, new paint, and we’re building a new bar and a back bar,” Reckord said. “It will have lots of patio seating.”

“We’re going to have a big synthetic putting green next spring, right next to the patio, and it’s going to be under the lights so people can go out there to putt a few balls and have a cold beer. We want to keep it the same atmosphere as a golf course.”

The restaurant is the first activity in a lineup of development envisioned for the now defunct nine-hole, 100-acre golf course that fell under bankruptcy and was sold last year in a trustee’s auction. The new owners, developers Dave Black and Bryan Walker of NAI Black, have said they are considering a master-plan community and smaller-scaled golfing options.

“It’s the last large parcel of property, almost 100 acres, within the urban growth area boundary, so it’s pretty exciting,” Black said. “I think the neighborhood is going to be very excited about what we’re going to do.”

He said the hope is to get a master plan before the city in the next six months.

Reckord said those plans inspired the couple to take action now. Commuting from their home past the site, they also started thinking that it would be a good restaurant location, he added.

“There really is nothing out there for the Painted Hills and Ponderosa community,” Reckord said. “With all the units Dave is going to put in – he has plans for 500 or 600 units in five phases – we thought it was a perfect time to get in.”

Reckord said he and his wife plan to create a pub atmosphere leaning toward an upper-end sports bar serving pizza and other typical pub food. The eatery will be family-friendly until 9 p.m., when it will have more of a bar atmosphere, he said.

“It’s going to have pull-tabs,” Reckord said. “Right now, we’re getting the word out on Facebook. We’ll have lots of parking out there.”

Bryan Walker, a broker who helped handle the restaurant lease, said he and Black are partners in development plans for the overall golf course property, but that much planning work remains.

“We’re going to develop and propose a master-plan development community for the whole property; we don’t know if it will be a planned unit development or mixed use,” Walker said. “We’re going to try to leave some golf elements in place so the neighborhood can enjoy that.”

“We’re taking our time and working with the neighborhood and with the city on a master plan,” he added. “We hope to do something within the next year. We hope to have a large park for the neighborhood.”

The city of Spokane Valley briefly weighed options to buy the property to continue operating the golf course or turn it into a park. However, the council eventually agreed not to get involved in the bankruptcy auction after it appeared private investors might continue it as a golf course.

In December 2013, Walker presented development ideas to a group of neighbors. The plans at that time considered keeping Painted Hills’ short par-3 course and the driving range, while developing housing units and using some of the land for a park. Part of the former course sits in the Chester Creek floodplain, and a portion of the site floods every spring during high water flows.

The Reckords will operate the Clubhouse at Painted Hills as a second business. Scott Reckord pleaded guilty in 2012 and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for vehicular homicide for killing bicyclist David L. Squires in a March 1, 2010, drunken-driving collision in downtown Spokane. Said Reckord, “It was a bad, bad deal, and I hope other people will learn from it. I’m very remorseful. I think about it every day, and I hope people understand how bad I feel for his family.”