Payne Properties & Development, a company here owned by Al and Patricia Payne, has bought the former Gung Ho Restaurant building north of downtown Spokane and plans to remodel it for retail use.


The building, which Payne Properties bought for $459,000 from Paul and Carol Eng, of Spokane, is located at the northwest corner of Sharp Avenue and Division Street. It includes a 6,000-square-foot main floor and a 3,000-square-foot partial basement.


Payne Properties hopes to start renovating the structure later this month or in early September, after it auctions off the remaining restaurant equipment and fixtures there, Al Payne says. It hopes to find a single user that would occupy the entire structure as speculative retail space if such a tenant doesnt come forward. He expects improvements to cost about $250,000.


The building has been vacant for at least a year, Payne says. The Engs had operated the Gung Ho Restaurant there from the early 1970s until 1998, he says. Another restaurant called Moonlight Oriental Buffet opened there after the Gung Ho closed, but closed within a year.


The former Gung Ho building is the third structure in that neighborhood that the Paynes have been involved in buying and renovating in the last few years.


Most recently, the Paynes and other members of their family bought and renovated the former Lloyds Appliance & TV Center building at the southwest corner of Sharp and Division through a company they formed called Star Sailor Investments LLC. Sylvan Furniture Co., of Spokane, leased the 21,000-square-foot building, which is across Sharp from the Gung Ho, and opened an Ashley Furniture Home Store there.


Earlier, Payne Properties bought the former University Press building at the southwest corner of Ruby and Sharp, one block east of the old Gung Ho, and converted it into retail space. That 5,000-square-foot building now houses a VoiceStream Wireless store and Spokane Subs sandwich shop.