Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched work on a big retail store at Shadle Center, the first of two megastores that the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant plans on Spokanes North Side.


CSI Construction Inc., a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based contractor, has been hired to build the store at Shadle Center. Crews run by its regional office in Portland, Ore., are handling the project.


The 120,000-square-foot store at Shadle is expected to be completed and open in March 2000, says Mike Gorman, a project manager for CSI Construction whos overseeing the job. A building permit lists the estimated cost of the project at $5.4 million, although Gorman says it will be less.


Construction of the store at Shadle, which is located along Wellesley Avenue between Alberta and Belt streets, begins even as Wal-Mart seeks city approval to buy 30 acres of city parks department land near the southeast corner of Holland Road and Colton Street, just off U.S. 2. If that transaction is approved, Wal-Mart would pay $3.6 million for the land, and the city would use that money to build a park near the site, develop a master plan for 130 acres of land surrounding Joe Albi Stadium several miles away, and build a sports complex at Joe Albi.


Gorman, whose office has acted as general contractor on other Wal-Mart construction projects in the Northwest, says the second North Side store likely would be a 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart super center, with groceries and a car-maintenance station.


He says the Shadle Center Wal-Mart will include specialty departments such as a deli, a photo-processing lab, and a garden center.


Wal-Mart currently operates one store in the Spokane area, a 135,000-square-foot store at the Spokane Valley Plaza.