Companies in which Spokane developer Dick Vandervert is involved are starting three large retail projectsone in Spokane and two in the Tri-Citiesworth a total of $55 million.


Each of the projects involves construction of a multitenant retail center with roughly 120,000 square feet of floor space, Vandervert says. Vandervert Construction Inc., which Vandervert owns, is the general contractor on all three jobs.


On Spokanes North Side, crews have cleared 24 acres of land along the west side of U.S. 2, across the highway from its junction with Nevada Street, and are moving forward with infrastructure improvements and utilities for a planned $20 million retail development to be named Pine Water Plaza.


Vandervert is teaming up with Dave Nelson, owner of the Spokane landscape-architecture company Land Expressions LLC and that sites owner, to develop the property through Pine Water Plaza LLC.


Work on the first 15,000-square-foot structure on that site is expected to begin in mid-August, and could be completed by December, Vandervert says.


Pine Water Plaza LLC is negotiating with potential tenants for the planned building, designed by Russell C. Page Architects PS, of Spokane, as well as a couple of companies interested in two of the four retail pads that will front on U.S. 2.


Pine Water Plaza LLC also is talking with two groups that are considering buying available land at the southern end of the cleared property. One interested party wants to buy eight acres of land to develop an automotive dealership there, Vandervert says. The other is looking for four acres for a bowling alley.


Earlier this year, the YMCA of the Inland Northwest bought 16 acres of land west of the retail-center site for an envisioned North Side center. The organization still is raising money for the project.


The Y will be an anchor for the center in a way, Vandervert says, adding that once the facility is built, it could attract up to 3,000 car trips a day.


While Vandervert got involved with Pine Water Plaza recently, development there has been mulled for years.


In late 2002, Nelson had requested a zone change for the 40-acre property that would allow for a large mixed-use project. At that time, a proposal for Pine Water Plaza included 174,000 square feet of retail space, 97,000 square feet of office space, and a 48-unit apartment complex. Those plans changed, however, after the YMCA bought its plot.


In the Tri-Cities, projects that Vandervert is involved in are getting under way in Pasco and West Richland.


The Pasco project is the farther along of the two, with the first retail building expected to be completed there next month. Blockbuster Inc., the Dallas-based video-rental giant, plans to open an outlet on a retail pad there, Vandervert says. Work on additional structures could start later this summer in the $15 million project, he says.


Pasco Commercial Investments LLC, which Vandervert has an ownership in, is developing the retail center on a 15-acre site along state Route 68, just north of Interstate 182, and eventually will include a total of roughly 120,000 square feet of retail space.


Bernardo-Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, is designing that retail center.


In West Richland, crews have cleared a 14-acre site and are relocating an irrigation pond at the southwest corner of Kennedy Road and Bombing Range Road in preparation for a retail development to be named West Richland Plaza.


MV Investments LLC, which is owned by Vandervert and Spokane developer Lowell McKee, is developing that project.


Work on that $20 million retail center is expected to start later this summer. Vandervert says he is negotiating with smaller tenants, but no leases have been signed yet. He expects a supermarket to anchor that development.


Russell C. Page and Bernardo-Wills each is designing parts of that development.