Tod Stephens: The Dirt: South Hill Home Depot project devloping

Apr. 25—An application to construct a Home Depot on the South Hill has been received by the city of Spokane.

The proposed site is the vacant Shopko building location at 4515 S. Regal St., near Target.

Instead of renovating the roughly 100,000-square-foot building, the application documents show developers are planning to build a new structure on the site.

This implies the Shopko building will be demolished, though no demolition permits have been applied for, according to city records.

Developers are planning to build a roughly 134,000-square-foot building. About 28,000 square feet of that space will include a garden center and another 100,000 square feet will be designed for retail space.

The application is the latest interest in the property on South Regal Street since Shopko closed its store in 2019 along with 362 others across the country.

The Shopko building has been for sale for years and was once listed by Kidder Mathews, a Seattle-based commercial real estate firm.

"Those large buildings are hard to sell," said Monica Wallace, regional president of brokerage for Kidder Mathews, according to previous Spokesman-Review reports. "Buyers have to like the location, size and economic circumstances, which is certainly a smaller pool of tenants."

The current owners, James and Robert Samuel, purchased the 13-acre property in 2015 for $10.5 million, according to city records.

"I suppose that's why they're going to take it down," Steven MacDonald, the city's director of community and economic development, said last in October when preliminary plans were received by the city.

At the time, MacDonald said the project could boost the local economy.

"The building has been vacant for years, its deteriorating and isn't generating any sales tax," he said.

Even in its early stages last year, City Councilman Ryan Oelrich said he was more wary of the $20 million project.

"I've heard from constituents who have seen people trying to break in or climb on top of the roof; it also gets vandalized, too, so activating the property would be good for that," Oelrich said at the time. "But local hardware stores are in the area, too. What will happen to them?"

Directly across the street from the old Shopko building, is Ruggiero's Ace Hardware, owned by Austin and Josh Ruggiero. The brothers are the third generation of Ruggiero owners.

Josh Ruggiero said that despite the national brand recognition, his store is local.

"Ace Hardware stores are a collection of a bunch of independent store owners that carve out unique and locally tailored products to fit our markets," Ruggiero said. "We aren't a franchise, nor are we a massive retailer. We are independently and family owned."

The hardware storeowner said he would be devastated if the project was a success.

"I fear we will no longer exist if this Home Depot goes in across the street," he said.

A new Home Depot store could employ 145 to 175 people, according to the project description submitted to the city.

City development director, MacDonald, said last year that the economic impact of the store could be substantial.

"This store could have a $2 million impact from the city's portion of sales tax alone," he said, basing the number on sales from the other Spokane Home Depot near the intersection of North Division Street and North Newport Highway.

The new building would include a lumber canopy and a rental center.

Customers could lease small power tools, power- or gas-driven equipment, small flatbed trucks and a cargo van, according to the project description in application documents.

McDonald said the products and services Home Depot offers are scarce on the South Hill.

"Now people don't have to go all the way to the north location or to Spokane Valley," he said last year. "I live about 10 minutes away, and I am looking forward to it."

Multifamily project in Spokane Valley

An application has been submitted to the city of Spokane Valley to construct two, 12-unit apartment buildings near a different former Shopko building, this one in Spokane Valley.

Each planned structure will be three stories tall and encompass around 14,000 square feet, according to the application.

The project, at 13217 E. 3rd Ln., which is just south of the Opportunity Shopping Center, is estimated to cost about $1,500,000.

Steve Goodmansen, principal at Spokane architectural firm Bernardo Wills, designed the project.

Self-storage planned for Spokane Valley

The city of Spokane Valley issued permits to build a self-storage project southeast of the intersection of Interstate 90 and Barker Road, near Ridgeline High School.

Storage Solutions Spokane, projected to cost about $6.2 million, would include three storage buildings. Each would be three stories tall and encompass about 90,000 square feet.

At 19311 E. Appleway Ave., the site is immediately adjacent to Garage Town USA, another storage facility that allows customers to own large, luxury storage units, according to its website.

According to plans, each building will offer 504 storage units.

The project expanded scope from its original permit application last year when it only consisted of two buildings.

In addition to another storage buildings, plans also now call for a coffee stand, as well. That structure is planned to be around 700-square-feet and cost about $250,000 to construct.

Spokane-based Russell Page Architects designed the project.