Military facility will be built on West Plains

A new Military Entrance Processing Station on the West Plains will anchor what developer Greg Jeffreys said he hopes will be a campus for other federal offices in the Spokane area.

The station, or MEPS, will occupy six of 26 acres at Pillar Rock Plaza, he said. A new Campus Road, one-half mile west of Spotted Road, will provide access to Highway 2.

Jeffreys said the 20,000-square-foot MEPS will be built to gold LEED energy conservation standards using double-wall exterior surfaces, special glass, and hydronic heating and cooling system.

After its completion in February, he said, about 40 mostly U.S. Army recruiting personnel will take occupancy.

Jeffreys is the principal for G.J. LLC, the project’s developer. The owner will be the Jeffreys Family Trust, which includes wife Kim, son Jon, and daughter Crystal.

Russ Wolfe of Wolfe Architectural Group is the designer. Storhaug Engineering did the civil engineering. Baker Construction is the builder.

Although MEPS is the Plaza’s only tenant, Jeffreys said the U.S. General Services Administration is moving toward more campus-like facilities that can be shared with other agencies, and G.J. LLC will aggressively bid for more leases.

Ross to take Gottschalks spot

California clothing retailer Ross Dress for Less will move into the vacant Gottschalks building at 802 E. 29th Ave., the company announced Thursday.

Ross already has stores along north Division Street and at the Spokane Valley Plaza at Sullivan Road and Broadway Avenue. The opening of the store in the Manito Shopping Center is not expected until summer of 2011.

The move culminates more than a year of negotiation, said John Bennett, who brokered the deal. He is president of Black Property Management.

Ross will renovate about 28,000 of the 40,000-square-foot building formerly used by Lamont’s and most lately by apparel company Gottschalks until it declared bankruptcy.

The remaining 12,300-square-foot section along the building’s west wall will be available for other tenants.

Along the lower level of the Gottschalks building, renovation will soon start on the 2,500-square-foot store being vacated by the Pear Tree Restaurant.

NAI Black agent Colin Conway said a local company intends to use the space to open a new pub and ale house. Conway said the hope is to open the pub this fall.

Greenstone buying Agilent site

Greenstone Corp. will buy the Agilent Technologies property in Liberty Lake and rename the 70 acres of land the Meadowwood Technology Office Park.

The sale, for which terms were not disclosed, includes Agilent’s almost vacant 250,000 office and manufacturing building with its 1,000-slot parking lot.

In a release, Greenstone said the property could accommodate a total 700,000 square feet of mixed-use structures, room enough for up to 4,000 employees.

“We hope to attract new employers and provide existing employers the opportunity to expand to Liberty Lake and improve their market presence in the Spokane region,” said Wayne Frost, Greenstone vice president for commercial development.

Greenstone has been known as a residential developer, primarily in the Liberty Lake area. But the company recently broke ground on the first residential units for the Kendall Yards development near downtown Spokane.

Agilent announced earlier this month it would cease operations in the Spokane area, where it once employed more than 1,000.

Residential building permits up

A rebound in residential construction permits boosted the total value of all building in Spokane County to $47.4 million in April, and to $105 million for the first four months of 2010, McGraw-Hill Construction reported Thursday.

Residential permits climbed 39 percent to $23.8 million in April, the industry monitor said, raising the total through April to $62.2 million, up 59 percent.

Non-residential edged up eight percent to $23.6 million, but that was not enough to offset slower months earlier in the year.

For 2010, permits for non-residential construction are off 27 percent to $42.8 million.

Total construction is up seven percent for the year.