Work underway for new intergenerational housing on Northwest Blvd.

 

Courtesy photo by Courage Housing

A new building is rising at 2303 Northwest Blvd on the Northwest side of Spokane that will provide a new kind of housing for the area. That site will be the Excelsior Wellness Intergenerational Living Community. The community is designed to foster a sense of mutual stability and mentorship be intentionally pairing transitional-age youth (ages 18-24) with older adults (ages 55 and over) in a 24 unit apartment complex.

Ground was officially broken on the new community back in September and they hope to have the project complete and ready for move ins during the Summer of 2026. Multiple organizations are driving this new project including Courage Housing of San Diego and locally based Millenium Northwest for development. Bernardo Wills is in charge of the architecture; Yost Gallagher Construction is the general contractor with financing from Washington State Bank (and a $1.5MM equity-investor with community focused terms).

The ground floor units in the completed project will be specifically designed for accessibility. Architectural plans show various physical amenities like and open lawn area with a dog area, BBQ area with picnic table, a bike path with dedicated bike storage, EV power/charging, EV ready and EV compatible parking stalls, and accessible parking stalls.

New pizza place, Spokane Slice, opens in Downtown Spokane

 

Courtesy photos- Spokane Slice

Pizza is back in the Saranac Commons building at 19 W. Main in Downtown Spokane. The Talotti family, who own some other local businesses recently opened a new space called Spokane Slice in the building that is also home to Black Label Brewing, Boots Vegan and others. 

Spokane Slice is open Mon-Sat 11-8 and offers a less common square shaped pizza, with pizzas by the slice or whole pie available, additionally vegan and gluten free options are also available. In addition to some awesome pizzas, Spokane Slice also offers a couple of sandwiches and salads. Indoor dining is also available in the Saranac Commons building.

For more information on Spokane Slice, give them a follow on Instagram.

The Temple Tavern opening in Garland District

 

A new restaurant is coming very soon to Spokane's Garland District. Work is underway to open The Temple Tavern at 706 W. Garland Ave Suite B, within an historic Masonic Temple's building. The space was previously used for another restaurant called North Hill on Garland that closed down a few weeks ago and was operated by an unrelated owner.

The Temple Tavern will be a locally owned and operated business and is even the owner's first ever restaurant. They plan to open sometime in February 2026 and will serve a menu of fresh pasta, hand tossed pizzas and craft cocktails. Opening date (once announced) and more information on The Temple Tavern will be coming soon on their Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/thetempletavern/

The Flying Pickle coming soon to Post Falls

 

Courtesy photo- the Meridian location of The Flying Pickle, which will be similar to the new Post Falls location once open.

A large new indoor pickleball court business is flying into to North Idaho. The Flying Pickle is a Meridian,ID based indoor pickleball business that recently announced their planned new franchise location coming soon to Post Falls. They are also planning another franchise location in Nampa,ID as well as many others in the pipeline in other states. The Post Falls Flying Pickle was recently granted a building permit from the city, with construction now underway at the new businesses site at 140 N. Beck Rd, just off of I-90 at the Beck Rd./W. Pointe Pkwy exit (exit 1).

The Flying Pickle currently plans to open sometime in June of this year. The new place will feature 24 fully-fenced indoor pickleball courts, a full kitchen, and a bar. Pickleball fans might also notice the location as being in the same building as well known locally based Pickleball manufacturer Selkirk Sport. The Flying Pickle's owners indicate their new location will house a Selkirk Pro-shop and they plan to collaborate closely with them on events,etc. 

The club will be open to the public with both membership and guest options. Construction on the tenant improvement project is estimated at $5 million with The Flying Pickle occupying approximately 85,000 square feet of space in the building. For more information on The Flying Pickle, visit their website at https://www.theflyingpickle.com and be sure to check out the Post Falls location's social media pages via Facebook or Instagram

New multi-tenant commercial building planned in Riverstone

 

Courtesy photos - Daines Capital

A new commercial building is coming to the Riverstone mixed-use development in Coeur d' Alene, meaning new businesses and likely at least one new restaurant coming soon to the area. Plans call for the building to be at 1570 W. Tilford Ln. a short distance off of the Spokane River and near the entrance to Riverstone Park. Stancraft Construction Group will be the general contractor, with architectural work done by Eric Hedlund Design,LLC both of Coeur d' Alene, completion will be a yet to be announced date in 2026.

The main restaurant space is already leased; however, the tenant isn't able to be announced as of my writing this. Adjacent to that space is two more units that are currently for lease and being marketed by Daines Capital (info on leasing below). The other spaces are marketed as a smaller restaurant space with 1,500 +/- square feet, that would be ideal for a new coffee shop. And, a 1,100 +/- square foot retail space that could be any number of new businesses or could even be converted into office space if needed. Separately 700 +/- square feet of executive office space is also available for lease on the second floor.

We plan to keep an eye on this new development at Riverstone so stay tuned for more on the project and the businesses coming there. For more information on leasing space contact Steven Daines or Seth Peterson with Daines Capital at 509-209-4920 or check their website at https://dainescapital.com

New Vietnamese coffee & tea shop opens on the South Hill

 

There is a new coffee and tea option on the South Hill. Ca Phe Nguyen Coffee & Tea opened recently in space shared with the D'Lux Beauty Bar at 2718 E. 57th Ave Suite 108. But customers don't have to patronize the affiliated beauty business to stop in for piping hot (or cold) caffeinated beverage (although they definitely can also take advantage of the services at D'Lux)

The new business features a menu of Vietnamese coffee, both hot, iced or as an iced latte. In addition to a few teas, milk teas, boba teas and even an iced matcha latte. The space is small with no indoor dining as of right now but a good selection of coffee and boba that they say speak for themselves. For more information on Ca Phe Nguyen Coffee & Tea follow them on social media via Facebook or Instagram

New Wandermere area boutique gym grand opening set for Sun, Jan.18th

 

Spokane area residents who want to meet their New Years' resolutions related to exercise have a new boutique studio option opening later this weekend. Movement PNW will host its grand opening at 5pm on Sunday, January 18th 2026 at 321 W. Hastings Rd Suite 105, with a drawing and snacks available. Local owner Bob Selle is opening the Movement PNW gym in the Wandermere area to offer support and acceptance for people of all fitness levels. "Disenchanted with box gyms, we wanted to create a community rather than just a place to sell training or workout," he explained. "We choose the top trainers that are passionate about helping people in a way that fits into their lives."

"Our trainers get most of the profit and make the decisions on how the gym operates best for their clients" he said. "They have the autonomy to make their own service and grow their own client base with their own strategies. This will create a diverse opportunity for our clients". Selle shared he is a fitness enthusiast and certified personal trainer joining five other trainers at the new gym.

Every service includes a free intake session and ranges from group classes, to massages, to one-on-one training. Each member will also get two free buddy passes. For more information on Movement PNW, visit them, check their website at https://www.movementpnw.com or call 509-903-8484

The Breakfast Club opening soon on the South Hill

 A new restaurant called The Breakfast Club is opening soon on the South Hill, and despite the name we've confirmed it is a new breakfast restaurant and not a retailer selling memorabilia from the 1985 John Hughes classic film by the same name. Which incidentally is one of my favorite movies. 

The exact opening date hasn't been announced for The Breakfast Club just yet, but it will be located in the same shopping center as Target and Petsmart at 4919 S. Regal in the space that was formerly an Ezell's Chicken restaurant. The new Spokane location will actually be the third location for The Breakfast Club as they also operate locations in Missoula and Helena,MT. and will offer the same menu as those locations.

They tell me The Breakfast Club is a quick service establishment that focuses on take-out, but the new Spokane location will offer some indoor dining. The restaurant will offer several different types of breakfast burritos, scrambles, biscuits and gravy, and more. The breakfast burritos can even be done on spinach, wheat or wheat flour tortillas. With gluten free tortillas also available for a small charge and a few kids breakfast items also available on the menu.

The Breakfast Club is unlike the other Spokane area breakfast restaurants. Once opened the new restaurant will be open Mon-Fri 6am-2pm and Sat-Sun 7am-2pm. For more information on The Breakfast Club visit their website at https://www.thebreakfastclubmt.com/ and we hope to have more on this site about them once they open.

Five Below and Box Lunch coming to the Northtown area

 Two national retail brands that already have locations in Spokane Valley are evidently investing even more in the Inland Northwest with new building permit applications for new stores in the Northtown Mall area of North Spokane. Those stores are...

Box Lunch

California based Box Lunch is a pop culture gift, memorabilia and fast fashion retailer that recently applied with the City of Spokane to develop a new store within Northtown Mall in suite 2200 on the second floor of the mall. This is going off of public building permit data so there is no opening date listed. However, the store will take 2,570 square feet of space with an estimated remodeling project worth of $180,000.

Box Lunch also already has a location on the ground floor of Spokane Valley Mall. The company is a division of Hot Topic which also owns Hot Topic itself and Torrid, both of which are also already located in Spokane Valley and Northtown Malls. For more information on Box Lunch, visit https://www.boxlunch.com

Five Below

The Pennsylvania based Five Below brand of discount retail stores officially opened their first Spokane area location just a couple of months ago, located in the Evergreen Crossing shopping center by the corner of Evergreen & Indiana in Spokane Valley. But now Five Below is also coming soon to Spokane proper.

Five Below recently applied for a building permit to remodel and build out a store at 4727 N. Division, while not listing a suite number this would be located at the Northtown Square shopping center across N. Division from Northtown Mall. Also, there is no opening date for this new Spokane Five Below store but on building permit data it is noted as an 8,645 square foot store with an estimated remodeling project worth of $170,000

Five Below is a discount retailer with most of their merchandise marked at $5 or below. Except one department of each store selling items, like electronics, above $5 but still discounted. For more information on Five Below, visit their website at https://fivebelow.com

Unique new local grocery store coming to North Spokane

 

After a few revisions, and possibly a delay or two, construction is now underway for a new $200 million-dollar mixed use project called The Village at Midway at the junction of US 395 and Hatch Rd. just north of the City of Spokane. One day the project will be home to several new, yet to be announced restaurants and businesses. In addition to a new 665-unit apartment community called The Gem at Midway.

But first is a new grocery store and fuel station that's already under construction on the site. The new store will be locally owned and operated and called Midway Market. We're told the new store will be an 18,000 square foot retail store with gas pumps outside and is currently planned to open sometime during the summer of 2026. Hiring will start later this year, with information on jobs on their website (linked below).

Once open Midway Market will be a boutique style grocery store that includes a contemporary bistro and espresso bar, meat department, produce, bakery, beer & wine, on-site coffee roaster and more. They also plan to carry many natural and/or locally produced products and say they plan the new store to be "upscale, but competitive". The owners are actively working with URM Stores,INC. to develop and stock the store.

Keep an eye on Inland Northwest Business Watch as we plan to keep an eye on the planned opening of this and other stores at The Village at Midway. For more information now on Midway Market visit their website at https://shopmidwaymarket.com/ and like them on Facebook

Jefe's Tacos & Tequlia coming to Post Falls

 

Jefe's Tacos & Tequilia, a new locally owned and operated Mexican restaurant from the same owner as El Jefe's Grill in Coeur d' Alene is coming soon to Post Falls. Jefe's will be located in the building that was last The Bullet Bar & Grill along Idaho St, across from the Super 1 Grocery Store.

The opening date of Jefe's hasn't been announced just yet but is expected in the coming weeks and will be announced on their social media pages. Jefe's Tacos and Tequlia will have some of the same menu items as El Jefe's Grill but they will also add new items like ancho chipotle pasta with steak, scratch made empanadas, as well as an expansive dessert menu with scratch made churros, flan and even a horchata hot chocolate. 

There isn't a website for Jefe's yet but for some idea visit the website of El Jefe's Grill in Coeur d' Alene (or visit them in person at 405 W. Best Ave. #104 Coeur d' Alene,ID) at https://www.eljefesgrill.com/

Hyatt Place hotel now open in Post Falls

 

Hyatt Place Post Falls / Coeur d' Alene, the first Hyatt branded hotel in North Idaho is now open, officially opening their doors in the middle of December. The new hotel is located within the Millworx mixed use development area at 1213 E. 4th Ave in Post Falls. The hotel offers the brand's signature intuitive design, casual atmosphere, and practical amenities, including complimentary WiFi, a 24/7 dining menu, and thoughtfully designed social spaces. The property is managed by Northwest x Southern Hospitality, who is a leading hotel management company based in both Washington and Tennessee.

With easy access to I-90, the hotel is just 30 minutes away from Spokane International Airport, making it simple for guests to get there and explore everything the area has to offer. "As Post Falls,ID continues to grow and thrive economically, we are excited to add to the momentum by welcoming the first Hyatt Place hotel to the area" said General Manager DeShaun Mizner. "With our smartly designed social space and guest rooms with separate work and sleep areas, our multitasking guests can easily accomplish what they need to do while on the road."

Hyatt Place Post Falls / Coeur d' Alene features:

-151 spacious guestrooms with separate spaces to sleep, work and play, as well as a cozy corner sofa-sleeper.

-The Market serving freshly prepared meals anytime, day or night.

-The Bar featuring specialty coffees and premium beers, as well as wines and cocktails.

-Necessities program for forgotten items that guests can buy, borrow or enjoy for free.

-Free WiFi throughout the hotel and guestrooms.

-Event spaces with 2,256 square feet of flexible, high-tech meeting/function spaces

-Fitness center featuring cardio equipment with LCD touchscreens along with a Peloton.

"Post Falls is a vibrant city, filled with friendly people, great neighborhoods, and an ever-expanding list of great places to visit and things to do or see" said Danitiza Smith, Director of Sales at the Hyatt Place "Our hotel is central to all of them, and we are confident that the Hyatt Place Post Falls Coeur d' Alene will exceed guest expectations and provide them with everything they need while visiting our area."

For more information on the new hotel and how to book a room, visit their website at https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt-place/en-US/gegzp-hyatt-place-post-falls-coeur-dalene