Retail development gains first tenant

MOSES LAKE - A building offering retail and office space on Patton Boulevard has signed its first tenant, and owners say two more tenants are in negotiations.

The company, ASPI, also has completed a 50,000-square-foot warehouse in its Commercial Park development on Doolittle Drive, off Patton Boulevard.

Kim Foster, corporate counsel for ASPI Group, said the company is pursuing redevelopment of the old K-Mart property off Stratford Road, and retail businesses could be operating in the space sometime in 2013. Foster cautioned no tenants have been confirmed yet.

Realty Executives is the first tenant in the company's Gateway Commerce Center; Foster said the new business could open as early as Aug. 1. He said property managers are negotiating with two more tenants for spaces in the 12,000-square-foot building.

The building was completed last fall but owners did not market the property through the winter, Foster said. Currently the building is set up with space for up to seven tenants. Eventually the company plans to build a second, identical facility next door, he said

Construction work on the new 50,000-square-foot commercial warehouse was completed earlier this spring, said Mike O'Halloran, superintendent for Russell Construction, project contractor.

"We have three companies looking at that new warehouse building today and tomorrow," Foster said. Another warehouse, 100,000 square feet, is planned for the space between ASPI's existing properties on Doolittle Road.

The company owns a substantial amount of land along Patton Boulevard, and Foster said the owners think Moses Lake in general and Patton Boulevard in particular has significant potential for growth.

Foster said a real estate broker, Stephen Pohl of NAI Black, Spokane, is recruiting potential tenants for the former K-Mart building. "Our object is to redevelop that to accommodate four to five tenants," he said. The company is focusing on retail clothing, electronics, fabric and craft retail, and quality restaurants. The plans include construction of one or two additional buildings in the space currently occupied by the parking lot, which would be redone.

"Our hope would be to have stores ready to open next spring," Foster said.

Foster said Moses Lake is an attractive location for development, because construction and living costs are lower than metropolitan areas in the state, and the town is close to major transportation routes. Construction costs are as much as one-third lower, he said.

Grant County's low electricity rates also attract development. "The power rates are also a huge driver," Foster said.