The Dirt: Raising Cane’s obtains building permit for north Spokane

A building permit request has been submitted to the city of Spokane for the Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers restaurant announced earlier this year.

Although no contractor was listed on the permit request, it calls for building a 3,327-square-foot building that is 24 feet tall but will remain only one story at 9252 N. Newport Highway.

Plans also include an outdoor patio and a two-lane drive-thru. Motorists will be able to access the restaurant from Newport Highway and Hoerner Street.

The site had been a vacant lot across from the Heritage Village Shopping Center. It’s also just south of the Chick-fil-A at 9304 N. Newport Highway.

The two chicken chains were the most popular restaurants in 2023, according to one metric from QSR Magazine, a leading publication that compiles data on the food and beverage industry.

QSR found the company that had the highest sales per unit was Chick-Fil-A, followed by Raising Cane’s.

“They are a competitor,” Jason Zwerin, vice president of restaurants at Raising Cane’s, told the Spokesman-Review in May. “But in other cities, we are often by a Chick-Fil-A or an In-N-Out Burger because they have the same strategy – we go where the traffic is.”

According to county records, the property is owned by a company operated by Sean Tufts, managing director of Seattle-based commercial real estate agency Northmarq.

Tufts purchased the land in March, county records show. Chad Carper, real estate broker at Spokane-based Kiemle Hagood, facilitated the deal.

The Raising Cane’s chain expanded quickly after its founding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1996. There are around 750 locations in the U.S. and another 50 elsewhere, according to Zwerin.

The nearest location to the Lilac City currently is in Portland. After that, it’s Salt Lake City.

“We’ve had great growth in markets where we have not had a location before,” he said. “Typically, our focus has been on the East Coast, but we’re excited to turn our attention to the Pacific Northwest.”

Cascadia Public House No. 2

Construction has progressed at a project at 2901 N. Monroe St. that will eventually become the second location for Cascadia Public House, which currently operates at 6314 N. Ash St. in the Five Mile area.

The building is owned by Jim and Jodie Orcutt. Jim Orcutt, a commercial leasing broker at Spokane-based real estate brokerage firm NAI Black, said construction of the building should be completed by the end of the year.

After that point, Cascadia owners Jordan Smith and Robert Hatch would begin the remodeling to make the site work for its restaurant, Orcutt said.

Cascadia Public House was founded in 2017 by Smith, Hatch, Louis John Oliveri and his two sons, Johnny and Justin. The owners then opened a second location at 1414 N. Hamilton St. in November 2020. But they closed that site, which was the former Geno’s Pub near Gonzaga University, less than a year later.

Orcutt said contractors already have much of the structure that eventually will become the latest Cascadia Public House in place.

“The building is looking really good,” Orcutt said. “It’s going to be a nice shot in the arm for the neighborhood. I think it’s the missing piece for North Monroe.”

Once the construction, and later remodel, are completed, Orcutt said the project will have cost about $1.4 million

A permit for the remodel work is pending.

“I think April 2025 is the target date for opening,” Orcutt said.

STA upgrades

The Spokane Transit Authority last week submitted several building permits to the city of Spokane for a new bus route connecting downtown Spokane to Mead.

The “Division Street Bus Rapid Transit” is a new route that would include 45 bus stops and feature prepaying capabilities, real-time bus tracking, raised platforms and more frequent bus arrivals so riders can go to stops without needing to check arrival times, Carly Cortright, Transit Authority spokesperson, said in an email.

While STA began the process of seeking permits, the design work is only about 30% complete, which means the construction is not planned for some time, Cortright said.

“Over the next few months, we’ll be filing more permits for additional stations for the length of the project,” she said. “No construction is planned until 2027.”

Permits were submitted to garner feedback from city building officials, Cortright said.

“We learned from our first bus-rapid-transit project, city line, (that) plan review earlier in the project is beneficial,” she said, “so that’s why the permits were filed at this time.”

Completion of the route is tentatively planned for 2030 in conjunction with the North Spokane Corridor, she said.