The Dirt: CdA Super One undergoing $2.5M remodel

$2.5 million remodel for Coeur d’Alene’s Super One

A six-month, $2.5 million remodel of the Super One Foods in Coeur d’Alene began last week and will completely re-do the building’s exterior and interior.

The project, by Spokane-based Meridian Construction and Development, will be done in phases to allow for the grocery store to remain open, MeridianPresident Mark D’Agostino said.

“When you do a supermarket remodel, you have to keep the facility open,” he said.

The remodel of the 67,000-square-foot building, 305 W. Kathleen Ave., will include renovation of the bakery, deli, pharmacy, and meat and fish area, and add a mezzanine with a dining area.

Meridian’s focus is on retail, office, medical and industrial work, and it recently built the new $14 million Spokane Valley City Hall, Hayford Crossing Shopping Center in Airway Heights and Dealer’s Auto Auction. The company also owns the Globe building in downtown Spokane and led its redevelopment.

The grocery building is owned by Young, McIntire and Gill Hoover. URM Stores, of Spokane, is the construction manager. Shane Mercier, of Spokane’s Mercier Architecture and Planning, did the design.

Soul food restaurant in east Spokane gets permits

A new soul food restaurant providing life skills and job training for teenagers will begin $120,000 in interior remodel work, according to permits issued by the city of Spokane.

Fresh Soul, 3029 E. Fifth Ave., is owned by the Spokane Eastside Reunion Association, a nonprofit that also runs a basketball camp and a tutoring program for K-12 students at the Spokane Public Library’s East Side branch.

Michael C. Brown, founder of the association who has lived in East Central for nearly six decades, said the restaurant would specialize in seafood gumbo, but would also serve chicken, pulled pork and other Southern food staples.

The goal of the restaurant was to provide job training to up to 40 Spokane teenagers every year, including in the use of a POS system common at restaurants, serving food and dish washing.

“Of course, we’ll have qualified help in there to train them,” Brown said.

The restaurant, anticipated to be open by the end of the year, will serve lunch and dinner.

“It’s going to be awesome. I promise you that,” Brown said.

Brown said progress at the restaurant, which is in the location of the old Flipper’s Ice Creamery, has been helped along by donations from, among others, Lowe’s, A&M Hardware, Numerica Credit Union and the Gonzaga School of Business Administration, which helped write the business plan. Brown especially credited the city, because of its help through a grant.

“Along with my main man, God himself,” he said.

The project’s contractor is Spokane-based GR8 NW Construction. Bernando|Wills is the architect.

Indaba Coffee plans Kendall Yards location

A new commercial building is going up in the central part of Kendall Yards, the trendy and booming development just northwest of downtown Spokane in the West Central neighborhood.

The building, 2341 W. Centennial Place, will house Indaba Coffee’s third location and Hello Sugar, a doughnut shop.

Bobby Enslow, Indaba’s owner, said he anticipates the new location being open in the New Year, but acknowledged the project’s time line has shifted before.

“We wanted to be open in July and we signed a lease for September,” he said. “And here we are.”

When complete, the coffee and doughnut shop will have two big garage doors that will open toward the park. One door will be in the cafe; the other will be for the coffee roasting room, which will feature a 20-pound capacity coffee roaster.

Enslow, who lives in West Central with his wife and three kids, said this part of Kendall Yards is planned to be quieter and more residential than the existing strip, which he called “busy and a bit touristy.” The new location is on the multi-use Centennial Trail and across the street from the Olmsted Brothers Green playground and shelter.

The model for the doughnut shop is based on Pip’s Original Donuts in Portland. A friend of Enslow’s will sublease space in the new shop as a “proof of concept.”

Another building will be raised directly to the north and will also be commercial, Enslow said.

Indaba’s original location in West Central is at 1425 W. Broadway Ave. The downtown location is at 210 N. Howard St.

Greenstone Corp. is the owner and developer of the 78-acre development. It owns the building and is the project’s contractor. Spokane-based Uptic Studios designed the building. Summit Engineering, also of Spokane, did the engineering.