Three of Eastern Washingtons more prominent developersK. Duane Brelsford, of Pullman, and Dick Vandervert and Lowell McKee, of Spokaneplan to develop a $9 million, 14-screen movie-theater complex in the Wandermere shopping area north of Spokane.


The three have formed Farwell Cinemas LLC to develop the complex, which is to be called Village Centre Cinemas Wandermere.


Were very excited about getting into the Spokane market, says Brelsford, who has opened Village Centre Cinemas in Pullman and in Lewiston, Idaho, within the last two years. We feel that with the growth on the North Side of Spokane, it clearly warrants additional screens.


As planned, the 50,000-square-foot complex will be located in whats referred to as the Wandermere North shopping area near the northeast corner of U.S. 395 and Farwell Road.


Brelsford says he hopes to break ground on the theater building in about two months and to open it about this time next year. Corporate Pointe Developers LLC, a company that Brelsford heads up that operates the Pullman and Lewiston cinemas, also will operate the Wandermere theater, which will employ between 40 and 50 people, he says.


As currently designed, the individual theaters would range in size from 78 seats to 275 seats and would include many of the same features found in theaters operated by national chains. Those features include stadium seating, digital sound systems, and curved screens. Also, Brelsford says movie patrons will be able to buy tickets via the Internetthe Web site isnt up and running yet, but tickets will be available at www.spokanemovies.com.


Village Centre Wandermere will play newly released, or first-run, movies at market-rate prices.


As the market currently stands, that complex would be the fourth first-run theater in the Spokane area. Regal Entertainment Group, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based company that operates 558 complexes nationwide, has 12-screen complexes at NorthTown Mall and at Spokane Valley Mall. AMC Entertainment Inc., the Kansas City, Mo., operator with 450 complexes, has a 20-screen theater at River Park Square, in downtown Spokane.


Movie distributors typically require first-run movie theaters to be located a certain distance away from one another, and Brelsford says hes confident the Wandermere location meets that requirement. The planned site for Village Centre Wandermere is about five miles north of the nearest theater, Regals NorthTown complex.


The feedback is that they (movie distributors) feel that its a far-enough distance that it can be considered its own district or its own market, Brelsford says.


Vandervert Construction Inc., of which Dick Vandervert is president, will construct the Wandermere theater, and Design West Architects PS, of Pullman, is designing it.


Brelsford says hes looking at a second location in the Spokane area, but likely wont move forward with a second theater project until after the first complex here is up and running. He declines for now to disclose what part of the Spokane area hes considering for a second theater.


The first Village Centre Cinemas opened in Pullman almost 1 1/2 years ago and includes eight screens. The Lewiston complex includes 12 screens and opened late last year. A company in which Vandervert and McKee are involved, MV Investments LLC, also was involved in developing the Lewiston cinema.