A $2 million-plus retail center, anchored by a long-planned Zip's Drive In restaurant, is rising in the Suncrest area northwest of Spokane.

Spokane's Vandervert Construction Inc. is constructing the small shopping center, named Suncrest Plaza, which is located at 5919 N. state Route 291, and the center is owned by Paid 2 Much LLC, says Don Morse, of Chewelah, one of the partners in the venture. The Zip's outlet is expected to open this month, as is the first of two planned retail buildings. The second retail building will be constructed later, and a third building also might be built on the four-acre site for a bank, Morse says.

Morse declines to name the other partners in the venture, but says Paid 2 Much has tentative agreements with three tenants for space in the first of the retail buildings. Those tenants include an AIM Mail Center, an office of Heupel Risk Management and Suncrest Insurance Services, both of which are owned by businessman David Heupel, and a business named Lake Spokane Home Loans.

The first retail building will have 4,800 square feet of space and should be ready for tenants this month, Morse says. The second retail building would have about 7,500 square feet of space. Morse says construction of that building will begin once the first building is fully leased.

The Zip's Drive In, owned by Ron and Julie Bassen, of Deer Park, is being constructed, also by Vandervert, at the same time as the first retail building, and is expected to open soon, Morse says.

Morse says the partners believe that the center will be successful based on recent commercial growth in the area, including construction of a new Mitchell's Harvest Foods grocery store nearby to replace an older grocery store at Suncrest that Mitchell's purchased last year and will close when it opens the new outlet.

Morse says Paid 2 Much LLC is seeking a bank tenant for a third building, which would be built on the east side of the site, next to state Route 291.