The developers of Suncrest Plaza say they have signed leases with six new tenants and are in negotiations with a seventh for the commercial strip in the Suncrest area northwest of Spokane.

Developer Don Morse says he and his partners in Paid 2 Much LLC, Harold Fettig and George Hansen, have signed leases with a child-care center, newspaper, pharmacy, investment office, pet supply store, and restaurant. With those new tenants, most of the retail storefronts will be occupied at the strip center, located at 5919 N. state Route 291.

New tenants in the retail center include Sundance Child Development Center, owned by Leanna Law, which occupies about 2,300 square feet of space, and the Outpost Newspaper and Lake Spokane Media, owned by Dana Michie. The Outpost and Lake Spokane Media is sharing a storefront with Suncrest Insurance Service Center and with a Stevens County community policing station. The owner of the insurance business, Dave Heupel, and his wife, Roxanne, also lease another space in the center, where she operates an AIM Mail Center.

In the other building, Lake Spokane Pharmacy plans to occupy a 1,200-square-foot space around June 1. The pharmacy is owned by Kevin Herda, who also operates two other pharmacy locations, in Chewelah and in Kettle Falls, called Valley Drug.

Also, a pet grooming and supply store named Nature's Pet Market will open in April in a 1,200-square-foot space. Ralph and Sandi Galindo own that business. In that same building, two other businesses—an Edward Jones investment office and a restaurant called Rio's Upriver Grill—have opened recently. Morse says the partners currently are in negotiations with a potential tenant for a final storefront, and the center also has a concrete slab ready for development of a building with up to 4,000 square feet of space.

Suncrest Plaza is anchored by a 3,000-square-foot Zip's Drive In outlet, owned by Ron and Julie Bassen, of Deer Park.