J.C. Penney Co., the big Plano Texas-based retailer, has applied for a building permit for a $750,000 remodel of its NorthTown Mall department store.

The company's corporate office referred a reporter to the store's managers, who said they weren't ready to comment yet.

Sean Shields, a permit specialist with the city of Spokane, says the job will include replacing flooring and drywall and reconfiguring light fixtures in the 144,000-square-foot two-story floor space.

Woods Construction & Interiors Inc., of Sterling Heights, Mich., will be the contractor on the project, according to the building permit application. Woods specializes in retail-facility renovation, expansion, and fixture installation, in addition to new construction, the company's Web site says. Chadha & Associates Ltd., of Chicago, designed the project.

The J.C. Penney store is located in the east-central area of the mall, at 4730 N. Division. It was constructed in 1991 during a major expansion of the mall that added three anchor tenants and a second floor of shops and doubled the mall's total floor space to more than 1 million square feet.

J.C. Penney has two other stores in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area. One is at the Spokane Valley Mall, at 14730 E. Indiana, and the other is at the Silver Lake Mall, in Coeur d'Alene.