Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, says it has won a $4 million contract to build a supermarket in Sandpoint, Idaho, for Spokane-based Manito Super 1 Foods Inc.

Tim Stulc, Vandervert's vice president, says he expects construction will start in early November, and the project will be completed in July.

The 54,000-square-foot Sandpoint store will be erected on five acres of land at the northeast corner of Larch Street and Boyer Avenue, about two blocks west of U.S. 95 in north Sandpoint, says Mike Winger, a spokesman for URM, the Spokane-based grocery distribution cooperative.

URM is assisting Manito Super 1 owner Ron McIntire, of Hayden, Idaho, through the development process. McIntire was unavailable for comment.

The Sandpoint store will employ at least 100 people, Winger says.

Spokane architectural firm Nystrom Olson Collins Inc. designed the project.

Manito Super 1 operates 10 supermarkets, including four in Kootenai County and six in Montana.

Its Kootenai County stores are in Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Post Falls, and Rathdrum, and its Montana stores are in Evergreen, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Stevensville, Hamilton, and Kalispell.

McIntire formerly operated a Super 1 Foods Store here, at 830 E. 29th in the Manito Shopping Center. He sold that store to Spokane-based Rosauers Supermarkets Inc. in 1995.