Angie Gaddy

A new family-style barbecue restaurant will open in the Valley the first week of April. Owners of O'Doherty's Irish Grille and Arizona Steakhouse in downtown Spokane will open Smokey's Family Barbecue at 11723 E. Sprague. The new restaurant will serve family-style meals of smoked turkey, chicken and ribs, said Terry Best, partner with Tim and Sam O'Doherty and Tim's brother, Shannon.

Plans for a 136-unit apartment complex at the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and Evergreen Road will go to Spokane County for a public hearing on April 3. Arger Capital Corp., a Spokane limited liability corporation created by Greg Arger and his brother Prokey, plans to develop six acres south of the Target store on East Sprague Avenue.

Once a berry patch and vegetable garden, former Dhaenens land now sprouts new homes. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

A California developer wants to build a scaled-back version of a commercial center, including a 24-hour grocery store and office buildings, at the corner of Highway 27 and 32nd Avenue. San Francisco-based Farallon Real Estate Services has asked that 5 acres on the southeast corner of 32nd and Highway 27 be used for an Albertson's grocery store. Another area would be used for offices, said Farallon's attorney F.J. Dullanty, Jr.

Ed and Dee Peck, left, and Dotti and Fred Gurney started up friendships and then this greenhouse. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

1. This black Labrador mix represents the most popular breed in the Valley, and he even has the most popular name: Bear. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Charles Filibeck dotes on Chico, his chihuahua. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad will discuss its plan to add a second rail line through the eastern Spokane Valley with county officials and the public on March 16. The hearing was ordered by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, which regulates railroad crossings, after Spokane County expressed concerns about traffic delays and safety. The hearing will take place at Gonzaga University's Conference and Convention Center, 800 N. Pearl.

(From Valley Voice, March 7, 1998): Captions accompanying the photographs that ran with the cover story in Thursday's Valley Voice misstated plans for property from which two older homes were recently moved. Modern Electric, which owns the land on East Broadway Avenue, has said it intends to use the vacated parcels as a storage area. 1. Two homes near Broadway and Pines are being moved to make way for office buildings. The heated-up property market is causing some businesses to convert old hosue. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. At the same time that many houses are being turned into offices, this house is being moved to make way for a new office building on East Broadway. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

The Argonne Village Shopping Center has emerged from receivership and could be in line for a facelift. The 25-year-old shopping center at Argonne and Montgomery has new ownership after three years under a court-appointed receiver. The new owner, a Delaware company called 1994 N1 Washington Associates, acquired Argonne Village last month in a settlement between former owner GVL Investors of San Francisco and its lender, RTC Mortgage Trust. The new owner is a subsidiary of RTC Mortgage Trust.

Liberty Lake residents will soon see new additions to an old-time dream. In March, construction bids will go out for $350,000 in improvements to Pavillion Park - a park having a pavillion that residents say will be patterned after the old Liberty Lake Dance Pavillion. Plans call for construction this summer of a 60- by 120-foot tennis court, an in-line skate hockey court, a sand volleyball court and a covered entrance to the park with columns and lattice work.

For the past 10 years, Jacob Laete has bicycled from his home on Spokane's North Side to his job at Hewlett-Packard in Liberty Lake. He takes the Centennial Trail all the way out to the Harvard Road trailhead, then bikes south along Harvard toward Interstate 90. Along that half-mile stretch between the trailhead and the freeway, the road's shoulder tapers down to nothing, he says. As development along Harvard has increased, Laete has had to battle increasingly heavy traffic. But a solution is in the draft stage.

A Chevron gas station and a convenience store with a 1950s-style decor will open in mid-March on the corner of Mission Avenue and Argonne Road. Construction of the $1.4 million project began in November. It will include 12 gas pumps and a 3,000-square-foot store that includes a Sub Shop sandwich shop, said owner Bob Beal. The convenience store includes a real 1950s Studebaker built into the center counter, Beal said. Beal also built a 3,000-square-foot building east of the store that will house a Precision Tune shop expected to open in a couple of weeks, he said.

Owner Julia Postlewait plays with a young customer at the Millwood shop. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

New-York-born Loren Mitchell has worked in several parts of the country. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

A Pier 1 Imports store and and a Black Angus steakhouse are coming to the Spokane Valley Mall, mall officials said. Both the new store and the new restaurant will be housed in freestanding buildings at the mall, locations would be along Indiana Avenue, said Collier Reid, leasing agent for the mall. Stuart Anderson's Black Angus will build a restaurant of about 6,500 square feet.

Oops 1. Doug Elledge takes a spill after his mountain bike's handlebars got caught on a gate during a practice run Saturday morning at the Valentine's Day Massacre at 49 Degrees North ski area. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. Zach Hoit, foreground, 16, of Spokane, scrambles to get out of the way of Isaak Strout, 17, of Cheney, during a practice run at 49 Degrees North Saturday. Hoit crashed first on a berm near the finish and Strout followed him into the snowbank. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Ken Lengel cleans up outside his soon-to-be-displaced mobile home. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Rosauers Supermarkets Inc. will close its grocery store at 8517 E. Trent on March 1, citing stiff competition from newer stores in the area. Many customers were upset by the news. Millwood Mayor Jeanne Batson said she has shopped at the Rosauers on East Trent "forever and forever."

Fewer Valley homes sold last month than in January of 1997 and prices were down compared to a year ago. Fifty-eight homes sold in the Valley during January, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors, compared to 75 a year earlier - a drop of about 23 percent. However, the Valley still led the Spokane area marketplace in the number of new homes sold last month, with 14.

1. Bigelow Gulch Road is a busy link between the Spokane Valley and the North Side. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Above, a white cross marks the scene of a traffic fatality along the hilly, two-lane road. 3. Many commuters take Forker Road to Bigelow Gulch Road to get to the Valley and North Side. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad plans to add an additional set of tracks this spring to its main rail line in the eastern Spokane Valley. However, Spokane County has asked for a public hearing on the matter. The new tracks would run from just west of Harvard Road to Hauser, Idaho. Three railroad crossings - at Harvard, McKenzie and Idaho roads - would be reconfigured after the railroad adds the second track to its main line, which runs south of Trent Avenue.

Loren Mitchell is on his next great adventure. He's not flying planes over the Alaskan bush or serving on secret missions in Third World countries like in years past. This time, Mitchell will be heading up the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce as the business organization's new president and CEO. He comes to the Valley from the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce. He begins his new job on Feb. 17.

Construction of a new Northwest Seed and Pet store is under way immediately east of Huckleberry's Fresh Market at the corner of Sullivan and Sprague. The 20,000-square foot store will open sometime in March, said Dave Tefft, assistant manager at the Northwest Seed and Pet store at 2422 E. Sprague. Tefft will be the manager at the new store. Last summer, the company closed its store at University City Shopping Center.

Ed Koschlak sorted mail for the last time on Friday. The man who knows everybody's name on his Liberty Lake route Liberty Lake has retired. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review