Project update- Midtown Mixed-Use in Coeur d' Alene

 

Photos taken during the project's construction, used with permission from Rocky Mountain Crane.

An impressive looking crane from McCall based Rocky Mountain Crane now stands tall over a site in the 800 block of N. 4th St in Coeur d' Alene's Midtown neighborhood. The crane is bringing people's attention to an exciting new project going up at the site which as you can see is progressing nicely.

We paid a quick visit to the site this morning to get an update, framing seems complete and inside work is starting on the first of what will someday be two mixed use buildings. Plans call for 2800 SF of commercial space on the ground floor and 16 apartments on the upper floors with a combination 1- and 2-bedroom units and an elevator. The current building is scheduled to open in March-April of 2023 with Aspen Homes acting as the general contractor and Eric Hedlund Design, LLC doing to architectural work on the project. 

No businesses have been set yet for the commercial space as the developers are waiting for building completion to lease this space, which will open up to a public park once complete.  In the future a second mixed use building will be built on the southern end of the site at the corner of 4th & Roosevelt, that building is in the planning stages now. 

Idaho Central Credit Union to start construction on Spokane Valley branch, Liberty Lake coming soon

Idaho Central Credit Union continues to expand their presence in Spokane. The Chubbuck,ID based credit union is renovating a building on Newport Hwy. for a new branch, and they recently opened a branch / regional office in Downtown Spokane at 41 W. Riverside.  Next up they plan to open in Spokane Valley.

The credit union is planning the construct a standalone branch in Spokane Valley at 16015 E. Broadway. The new facility will be a 9200 SF building that will be on a previously vacant lot, along Broadway in front of Lowe's and Wal-Mart. J. Addington General Contractors,Inc. of Coeur d' Alene will be the general contractor for the project and Lombard/Conrad of Boise is in charge of the architectural work.

The new Spokane Valley branch is planned to open in late fall or early winter of 2023. Another branch is also planned to be built in Liberty Lake, which is planned to be a 9000 SF facility located at 21398 E. Country Vista Blvd. on the south side of Country Vista in-between Kramer Pkwy. and Legacy Ridge Dr. that location is still being planned with construction coming soon.

Shiki Japanese Steakhouse coming to River Park Square

 Japanese cuisine will once again be returning to River Park Square with a new restaurant filing for building permits in a space on the ground floor of the Downtown mall. The new restaurant will actually fill the same space as the mall's previous Japanese eatery, Sushi Maru which was primarily a conveyor belt sushi restaurant that closed following the pandemic.

On the building permits the new restaurant is shown as Shiki Japanese Steakhouse, but is part of the small regional Shiki chain, with the other locations using slightly different names like Shiki Hibachi Sushi. Whatever the name officially becomes the restaurant will do some remodeling to the 5600 SF space to remove to conveyor belt and add a sushi bar and potentially more before opening.

Shiki is operated by Leon Chi who spent time working in the sushi restaurants of Manhattan before establishing the first location using the Shiki brand at Walla Walla in 2015. Other locations have also since opened in Kennewick, Hermiston, OR and Downtown Coeur d' Alene. We attempted to reach out to Chi for comment on an opening date and other details about the planned Spokane location, but we did not receive a response.

For more information about Shiki Japanese and menu examples, check out https://www.shikihibachisushi.com/ or http://shikicda.com

Les Schwab Tire Centers planning Liberty Lake location

 Bend,OR based Les Schwab Tire Centers is planning to construct a new store in Liberty Lake, with building permits already being applied for. Currently the purveyor of tires, brakes and other auto-related services operates many locations in the area including one a few miles to the west in the 15000 blk of E. Sprague in Spokane Valley, but none within the City of Liberty Lake, until now.

According to the building permit application the new store will be built at 22400 blk of E. Appleway, across Appleway from Taco Bell in a mostly unused section of the parking lot for the Liberty Lake Business Park development. The store is planned to be a 9,586 SF stand-alone concrete block building with showroom, offices, six work bays and tire storage. Site improvements will also be done for new landscaping and improved parking.

The project's general contractor is currently listed as TBD, architectural work is being done by Cushing Terrell of Boise. The applied for permits are currently shown to expire in Feb. of 2023, so we expect construction to start not long after their issuance with an opening in the coming months, perhaps before the end of 2022.

Progress Watch- McFarlane Industrial Park in Airway Heights

Named for the road the development is located on, McFarlane Industrial Park is growing and adding to the much-needed warehousing stock in the Spokane area. A project of Spokane Valley based developer At Industrial, the project actually started with a 187,500 SF building which has been leased to Amazon and will evidently become the Spokane area's first Amazon Delivery Station. No word however on when Amazon will start operating there, however.

Now the focus is onto phase two of the project, which will be another new large warehouse. This new warehouse is located 10921 W. McFarlane Rd and is actually larger than the first building at the site, with the new building clocking in at 218,400 SF. . There are no tenants named for the new structure, however the marketing information indicates the new building is to be dividable down to 14,560 SF, meaning we could see more than one new company set up shop in the new building.

Office spaces will be built to suit with the building boasting cross dock capabilities. 30' clear height +/- and 145' truck courts. Large amounts of on-site surface parking will be provided to tenants, as will 4.2 acres of adjacent land for storage, etc.

Divcon,Inc. is the general contractor for the building. An additional building was also planned at the site at one time, but this will likely be added as the market demands as no additional permits have been issued at the site.

For more information on the projects of At Industrial, check http://www.atindustrialco.com

Construction underway for new Cambria Suites hotel near Spokane International Airport

 

Originally planned to be built as a LaQuinta Inn in early 2019, the planned hotel made a switch to the Cambria Hotel branding in Aug. 2019. But perhaps due to Covid and other factors no actual construction happened at that time for the hotel, which is to be located at 4611 S. Dowdy Rd nearby Geiger Blvd.

Flash forward to 2022, and we can see that the plan appears to have been delayed but not completely cancelled as construction is now happening on the site. In fact, when we investigated last week, a small crew was present, and a building foundation has already been constructed with early plumbing rising out of the ground. The site is only few miles south of Spokane International Airport, the GEG1 Amazon facility and is an easy drive to Downtown Spokane.

Permits for Spokane's new Cambria Hotel we're re-issued in March of this year with MedVed Global Northwest,LLC of Moses Lake listed as the general contractor. The permits we're submitted by Mohinder Brar, who appears to be related with the Best Western franchise in Moses Lake, but when we reached out for information on opening dates, etc. we unfortunately received no comment.

What we do know about the new hotel is that will be a 4-story building with 85 rooms. The original press releases for the hotel when it was first proposed indicate that the hotel will include a fitness center, meeting space and locally inspired design. The architect on file with the building permits is Kaul Design Associates, LLC of Federal Way. We hope to have more exact details at some point in the future.

Cambria Hotels are a growing brand established by the parent company Choice Hotels. The company's website mentions the Cambria brand under the phrase " Little luxuries, Big Difference ", tailored to business travelers and the wants of leisure guests. 

Is Chick-fil-A coming to the South Hill?

 The chicken wars might soon be heating up even more around Spokane. As many know Chick-fil-A officially entered the Spokane market with a location at 9304 N. Newport Hwy. in Dec. of 2020. It was quite the opening with drive thru lines snaking thru the surrounding neighborhood for several days.

But, now two years later it looks like Chick-fil-A is working one adding a second location in the Lilac City. No permits have been applied for, but San Diego based 4G Development & Consulting did file for a pre-development conference with the city this week for what is shown in the public record documents as a new Chick-fil-A restaurant in the South Hill's Lincoln Heights neighborhood.

Plans can change, and they can even potentially be cancelled, but the current development plan calls for the new restaurant to be built new on the southwest corner of 29th & Regal. The site, which is already largely vacant would be cleared to make way for a new 4,987 SF Chick-fil-A restaurant building, it is to feature a double drive through, enough indoor dining for 90 and a new 113 stall surface parking lot. No mention of an estimated constriction timeline or opening date just yet.

The info on this possible new Chick-fil-A come on the heels of their competitor, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen, also showing an attempt at coming to the Spokane area. Popeye's has a location now in Post Falls and once planned a store at Division & Lyons but backed out of that site. Recently a new franchise owner put in pre-development paperwork for a new Popeye's on Newport Hwy. by the Y (ironically by the existing Chick-fil-A) and another close off of US 2 by the Spokane / Airway Heights border. Those also have not yet been issued building permits.

We will continue to keep an eye on these projects and other new restaurant news in the Spokane area.

Portion of the former Luigi's building to be converted into apartments

 Following on the heels of a few other Downtown building re-purposing's, plans are moving forward to convert another Historic building into apartments.  Permits we're applied for this week to convert the second and third floor of the building at 245 W. Main into rental units.

The space has been used previously as office space and the ground floor was last used for Luigi's Italian Restaurant, who's signage still remains on the facade despite the eatery having closed some time ago. The ground floor is shown as not included in this new round of permits and will remain commercial with no mention of a new tenant.

The top floors will be renovated and built out into 12 new apartments with one- and two-bedroom floorplans. In all 8 one bedroom, 3 two bedroom and 1 accessible two-bedroom units will be created. As this is only the permitting stage there is not yet news on what the rental rates will be or when the units might start to become available.

Graham Construction, of Calgary and with offices in Spokane Valley is acting as the general contractor for the project with design work being done by ZBA Architecture of Spokane.

Construction starts for Schweitzer's new employee housing project in Ponderay

 Originally announced in May, construction has now officially kicked off for a new 84 unit employee housing development for the employees of North Idaho ski resort, Schweitzer. The project is a partnership between Schweitzer and real-estate development firm Eastmark Capital Group. The complex will be located near the intersection of Schweitzer Plaza Dr. and Triangle Dr. , in Ponderay, a few miles north of Downtown Sandpoint. The project is to be walking distance to shopping, dining and transportation services including the public shuttle to Schweitzer.

The first phase of the project will see 84 pet-friendly one-, two- and three-bedroom units, and will feature full kitchens, washers and dryers and access to bike and ski storage. The current construction is set to be completed by the Summer of 2023. Future plans for the site include additional housing units, converted picnic areas, outdoor play areas, walking paths, workout facilities, and full-service daycare facility aimed at serving Schweitzer employees with young children in need of affordable childcare.

Schweitzer also continues to make improvements elsewhere around the resort property. In early May, construction began on a new road that will lead to approximately 1400 additional parking spaces and a new chairlift, with the goal of creating more efficient access to the mountain. This new roadway will connect to Schweitzer Mountain Rd. from an existing roundabout. Plans call for having more parking and at least one new chairlift in place by the Winter 2023/24 ski season.

Additionally, Schweitzer opened their new 31 room boutique hotel called Humbird earlier this year with a second phase in the works.  The new hotel also features an on-site restaurant called Crow's Bench.

For more information on the offerings of Schwitzer, visit their website at http://schweitzer.com

HUGE new update to our Current Construction Projects page!

 Ever wonder what's going in where? The articles we publish onto the main site give one a good idea, but there just isn't time to cover it all. That's why we have a convenient page of active construction in the Spokane area, and we just did a big overhaul of it!

Check it out at http://www.inlandnwbusiness.com/p/projects-were-watching.html

New additions include-

New warehousing / co-working space coming to the former Triumph building near Airway Heights.

Upper floors of the Luigi's building to become apartments.

21-unit apartment building planned off of an Alley along Monroe St., near Kendall Yards.

And, a lot more! It's not a list of everything as it's very likely I forgot a couple. There's also a few that I'm hearing about but haven't seen permits / movement on just yet so I'm leaving those off the list for in-case they stall. 

Don't hesitate to reach out with questions ( matt.behringer@inlandnwbusiness.com ). And, with any luck watch for a Kootenai County version of this list at some point as well.