Wandermere Investments LLC, of Spokane, plans to develop an auto-related strip mall on the northern portion of a 17.5-acre parcel north of Wandermere Mall, a shopping center at the northeast corner of U.S. 395 and Hastings Road.


Wandermere Investments planned development there also will consist of about 60,000 square feet of space on the southern portion of the acreage for other retail uses, says Dick Vandervert, president of Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, and a part owner of Wander-mere Investments. A Sharis Restaurant already has been built on that southern portion of the development, facing U.S. 395.


Just north of the Sharis outlet, work is under way on a 4,000-square-foot building that will house a fast-food restaurant operated by Longhorn Barbecue Inc., of Spokane, Vandervert says. That restaurant, which also will face U.S. 395, is expected to be completed in August, he says. The planned 60,000 square feet of retail space will be built behind those two restaurants, Vandervert says.


The entire 17.5-acre development, which is called Wandermere Plaza, is expected to cost roughly $15 million to develop, Vandervert estimates.


Design work is under way on the auto-related strip mall, which will face U.S 395, and likely will house such tenants as a tire store, an auto glass repair shop, a tune-up outlet, a muffler shop, a transmission-repair shop, and a car audio store. Vandervert says hes unsure how much retail space will be available in the auto mall.


Site work already has begun on a 3,500-square-foot three-bay quick-lube service center there, possibly for a national franchise called Grease Monkey. Besides the quick-lube operation, no other tenants have been secured for the development yet, Vandervert says.


The quick-lube service center, which should be completed in August, will be built at what will become the south end of the auto mall, Vandervert says. He envisions the mall occupying about 7 acres of land.


Spokane doesnt have anything like this, Vandervert says. He says he got the idea for the auto mall from similar developments he has seen in California, Arizona, and Nevada.


Russell Page Architects, of Spokane, is designing the Wandermere Plaza development, and Vandervert Construction will build the planned structures there.


Wandermere Plaza is adjacent to, yet separate from Wandermere Mall, which is owned by Douglass-Vandervert Developments, a Spokane partnership of which Vandervert also is part owner.