Zeeks Pizza Inc., a Seattle-based franchise pizza restaurant chain, is opening a restaurant in the former Geno's Fabulous Pizza & Italian Dinners building, at 1414 N. Hamilton, near Gonzaga University. 

It's the first Zeeks location east of the Cascade Mountains, says company President Dan Black. The other 19 locations are scattered on Washington’s West Side, from Bellingham to Tacoma.

Black says that he hopes the restaurant will be open within the first two weeks of November, in time for the return of college basketball season.

The 2,300-square-foot building along Hamilton Street was most recently occupied by Cascadia Public House.

Mike and Edie Stotts, who are husband and wife, are behind the company's introduction to the Spokane market, Black says.

The Stotts had decided to bring Zeeks to Spokane and were nearly ready to settle on a space near the Five Mile Shopping Center, in north Spokane, when they received a call from the owner of the Geno's building. 

Black says Zeeks has other Spokane-area locations in the works. The Stotts have agreed to two Zeeks locations total; Black says they're considering the Five Mile area of north Spokane. 

"We're talking to a couple of other groups that are also interested in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene corridor," Black says. "Our sense is that there'll be three to four under contract soon. The GU location will be the first of what we think is several over the coming years."

Black adds that Zeeks will be available via delivery throughout most of Spokane. 

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