Walgreens Co., of Deerfield, Ill., has leased part of the former Huckleberrys Fresh Market building in the Spokane Valley and plans to open a Walgreens Pharmacy there, says a real estate executive whos involved in the transaction.


The executive, Jim Quigley, an associate broker at Kiemle & Hagood Co., of Spokane, says the drug-store chain hopes to open its store there this summer. The old Huckleberrys space, which is located at the southeast corner of Sprague Avenue and Sullivan Road, has been vacant since Rosauers Supermarkets Inc. closed the 35,000-square-foot Huckleberrys specialty grocery in summer 1998.


Quigley says Walgreens has leased 22,000 square feet of that space. It plans, however, to demolish the westernmost portion of the building to make room for drive-through facilities, which would be accessible from Sullivan Road.


That action will reduce the buildings total square footage by about 5,000 square feet. After demolition and renovations, Walgreens will have about 17,000 square feet of retail space for its store, says Quigley, who handled the lease with Carl Guenzel, also of Kiemle & Hagood.


An additional 13,000 square feet of space remains available for lease in the structure. Quigley says he and Guenzel are working with potential tenants interested in that space, but none has agreed to lease it yet.


The slated Spokane Valley store is the second, larger-sized outlet that Walgreens has planned here. Last month, California-based Browman Development Co. applied with Spokane County to build a 15,000-square-foot Walgreens Pharmacy on Spokanes North Side. That store would be built at the former site of Matties Restaurant & Bakery, at 7905 N. Division. The Matties building has been razed. The county still is reviewing the permit application for the proposed new Walgreens, and hasnt issued a permit for that project yet.


Walgreens also has seven Walgreens RxPress stores in the Spokane area, but has announced plans to replace such smaller outlets with full-sized stores.