The Wolff Cos., a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based development company that began operations in Spokane and still has significant holdings here, plans to build a retail center along U.S. 2, north of Spokane, that will be anchored by an Aslin-Finch Feed & Pet Supply store.


Joe Organick, Wolffs director of development here, says the planned retail center will be located on eight acres, just southwest of the U.S. 2-Nevada Street intersection and a short distance south of the Pine Water Plaza development. When fully developed, it likely will include about 50,000 square feet of floor space.


Aslin-Finch Feed Co., a Spokane-based animal-feed manufacturer with four retail outlets, will move its North Side store into about 13,000 square feet of floor space in the new development, from smaller quarters about a half-mile to the south at the northwest corner of U.S. 2 and Holland Avenue.


Organick says the Wolff Cos. hopes to break ground on the new Aslin-Finch store in the next couple of months and complete it this summer. Work on about 20,000 square feet of attached, multitenant retail space could start yet this year, he says, though a schedule for that part of the project hasnt been set yet.


Two retail pads with a total of 17,000 square feet of floor space also will be built there eventually.


Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, is expected to be the contractor on the project, and Bernardo-Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, is designing it, Organick says. He declines to disclose the expected cost of that project.


Founded in 1937, Aslin-Finch employs just under 50 employees. The company is owned by Alvin J. Fritz Wolff Jr., a principal in the Wolff Cos.


Jay Allert, president of Aslin-Finch, says the companys current North Side location is 20 years old and has about 7,500 square feet of floor space. Five people currently work at that store, and the company will likely double that to 10 workers once that outlet moves to its new location.