John Hansen and business partner Barbara Chisholm, co-owners of five car wash plazas in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area, plan to open a sixth facility in June at the former Marie Callender’s Restaurant site, in Spokane Valley. 

Vandervert Construction Inc., of  Spokane, began work late last month on the Argonne Car Wash Plaza, at 2111 N. Argonne, Hansen says. 

The project is valued at about $600,000, according to a building permit the city of Spokane Valley issued for the project.

The new 5,000-square-foot structure will have seven bays—two automatic and five self-serve—on the same site as the former Marie Callender’s Restaurant, which closed in 2011 after its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  

Hansen and Chisholm employ a total of 11 employees and will hire two people to operate the new Valley car wash.

The business partners bought the 60,000-square-foot property last February. The car wash operation will take up about 40,000 square feet in total. 

“This location will look exactly like the other five locations,” Hansen says. “There will be a dog spa, Ritzy’s Dog Wash Center, at this location as well.”