Public-works projects and tax credits are expected to prop up the construction industry here in 2010, but the flow of projects in the pipeline has slowed to a trickle, says Kate McCaslin, president and CEO of the Inland Pacific Chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors Inc.

Developers are having difficulty getting financing for projects, McCaslin says.

"Credit continues to be frozen, even for good projects that pencil out," she says. "Until financing for private projects picks up, contractors are expecting another tough year."

Values of building permits issued through the first 11 months of 2009 in Spokane County and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley totaled $487.3 million, down 29percent from $687.9 million in the year-earlier period.

Projects valued at $103.3 million are under review at the city of Spokane, the largest of which involves portions of the county's wastewater-treatment facility project valued at $84.3 million, the city's building department says.

A large anticipated project for 2010 is the $34 million fine arts and photography building at Spokane Falls Community College. Three other projects valued at more than $30 million are under way in the Community Colleges of Spokane district and will be completed by early 2011.

In a large private development near downtown, construction activity is expected to resume at Kendall Yards.

Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp., which recently bought the 78-acre Kendall Yards property on the north bank of the Spokane River, said last month that it expects to develop a mixed-used community there, likely starting with townhouses in 2010 as the first phase of a 10- to 15-year, $500 million project.

Before Greenstone acquired the property, Coeur d'Alene-based Black Rock Development Inc. had done some infrastructure work for a development, but work there stalled during the recession.

As part of Spokane Public Schools' six-year, $288 million bond issue approved earlier this year, replacement of roofs and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems is planned next summer at Cooper, Holmes, and Audubon elementary schools.

Several other bond-funded projects will be in the design stage in 2010, including the $90 million to $95 million Ferris High School modernization project. A general contractor-construction manager will be named in early 2010, and construction is to start in the spring of 2011.

Meantime, the $74 million Shadle Park High School modernization project is scheduled to wrap up next summer.

Corey Condron, vice president of Condron Construction Inc., a prominent Spokane home builder, predicts 2010 will be a better year for residential construction than 2009, although it won't be strong in historical terms.

"We're anticipating an increase in 2010 that would bring us to the 2008 level, although in 2008, (the company) was down 50 percent to 60 percent from earlier years," he says.

Condron Construction specializes in homes in the $200,000 to $350,000 range. Sales in that range slowed significantly this year, Condron says. The company hopes to sell 55 homes next year, he says.

The company plans to build 15 entry-level homes in the $165,000 to $190,000 range in 2010 to capture first-time home buyers seeking to take advantage of an $8,000 federal tax credit, Condron says. The home-buyer credit has been extended through April 2010 and expanded to include up to $6,500 in tax credits for qualified repeat home buyers.

"The credit extension is creating a stir," Condron says. "We're seeing residual effects of people being able to sell homes and move up."

The Washington state Department of Transportation recently placed two north-south road projects on its 2010 construction schedule in addition to ongoing work on the North Spokane Corridor, says Al Gilson, WDOT spokesman. The new projects involve resurfacing Division Street between Euclid Avenue and Francis Avenue, and resurfacing U.S. 395 from the Division Street Y to the Stevens County line just north of Deer Park.

Planned construction projects to be funded through federal stimulus funds include a $2.4 million U.S. 195 improvement project next spring, Gilson says.

McCaslin cautions that stimulus projects only temporarily will boost limited sectors of the construction industry. "When the stimulus money runs out, the private sector has got to be ready to pick up the baton, or the economy will crash again," she says.