Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, has started work on a new Denny’s restaurant to be located at 3525 N. Division.

The $825,000 project is scheduled to be completed this summer.

Vandervert spokeswoman Andrea Barlow says the 4,400-square-foot restaurant building will be Denny’s first outlet in the region to be built under the company’s Heritage prototype design, which includes natural wood tones, earthy textures, and metal accents.

Denny’s franchisee Feast Restaurants LLC, of Murrieta, Calif., is developing the project, and DP3 Architects designed it.

Feast Restaurants is affiliated with Feast Foods LLC, which operates 170 franchise Jack in the Box restaurants in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California, including all of the Jack in the Box restaurants in Eastern Washington and Idaho.

The Denny’s project site at the southwest corner of Division Street and Gordon Avenue formerly was the location of a building occupied by Lefty’s Steakhouse & Sports, which was razed in 2012. It had been home to a number of eateries prior to Lefty’s, including Pioneer Pies, Panhandler Pies, and Doc Holliday’s Steakhouse & Saloon.

Spartanburg, S.C.-based Denny’s has more than 1,600 mostly franchise restaurants worldwide. The casual-dining restaurant will be the fourth operating Denny’s in the Spokane area. The others are located at 3711 S. Geiger Blvd., near Spokane International Airport; at 2022 N. Argonne Road, in Spokane Valley; and 6 N. Pines Road, also in Spokane Valley.