Some observers of the struggling construction industry are seeing glimmers of hope in an unsettled economy as highly anticipated projects, such as two new retail megastores in Kootenai County are nearly ready to get rolling.

Also work on a big community center in Coeur d'Alene should be completed in about two months.

"Some people are moving forward with projects, but for the most part, 2009 is going to be a slow year," says Dani Bielec-Kramer, a real estate agent who specializes in commercial leasing with Coldwell Banker Commercial Schneidmiller Realty, of Coeur d'Alene.

Bielec-Kramer notes that commercial construction volume was down 45 percent in 2008 compared with 2007, while total building permit volume was down 39 percent.

"Coeur d'Alene has a lot of smaller retail spaces that are vacant now," she says, adding, "We're not going to see a lot of new development."

Yet, some notable projects are coming through the pipeline, Bielec-Kramer says.

"Wal-Mart is probably one of the only big retail stores that's doing well in this economy," she says.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has submitted building plans to the cities of Post Falls and Hayden for a new outlet in each city.

The city of Hayden expects to issue a building permit within six weeks for a 213,000-square-foot Wal-Mart supercenter that's to be located at the southwest corner of U.S. 95 and Honeysuckle Avenue, says Lisa Key, Hayden's community development director.

Wal-Mart has listed the value of the Hayden project at $8 million, but Keys says the value likely will be recalculated before the permit is issued. "That $8 million guess seems low for a building of that size," she says.

Wal-Mart's Post Falls plans call for a 150,000-square-foot outlet east of the Cabela's Inc. sporting goods store at the Pointe at Post Falls. The building design would allow the structure to be expanded on one side in the future, says Russell Cornell, a city building official.

Cornell says a building permit might be issued by mid-May. He says he hasn't yet calculated the value of the proposed structure.

Both Wal-Mart projects were designed by BRR Architecture Inc., of Merriam, Kan. No contractor has been selected yet for either project.

In Coeur d'Alene, the much anticipated Salvation Army Coeur d'Alene Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center is expected to be completed in May. Construction started in July 2007 on the $38.7 million, 123,000-square-foot complex at the northwest corner of Atlas and Golf Course roads, a few blocks north of Interstate 90.

The complex will include an aquatic center, an indoor track, a chapel and performing arts theater, and other facilities. Robert B. Goebel General Contractor Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project. Miller Stauffer Architects, PA, of Coeur d'Alene; Architects West PA, of Coeur d'Alene; and Denver-based Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture designed it.

Kootenai Health, the Coeur d'Alene-based hospital system that operates Kootenai Medical Center, is in the design phase of a $30 million, three-story Kootenai Health Women's and Children's Center, which is planned to be located on the east side of the main hospital campus. The campus is located at the northwest corner of U.S. 95 and Ironwood Drive. Bouten Construction Co., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project; NAC/Architecture, of Spokane, designed it.

Kootenai Health's $8.2 million Post Falls Cancer Center is under construction near the southwest corner of Mullan Avenue and Syringa Street. Contractors Northwest Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, is the contractor on the 20,900-square-foot, two-story project, and Coeur d'Alene architects Rann Haight and Roy Marshall designed it.

In a local improvement district called Midtown, the city of Coeur d'Alene and the Lake City Development Corp. (LCDC) urban renewal agency are looking to start another phase of economic revitalization with a $3 million beautification project that will upgrade the street and sidewalks along a 10-block stretch of Fourth Street from Lakeside to Harrison avenues.

Along with the improvements, LCDC is working with the Idaho Housing Finance Association to develop an affordable work-force housing project at the former site of the Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store, at 811 N. Fourth.

Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d'Alene, is designing the project, which will be three or four stories high and contain 25 to 35 residential units. The units will range in size from 600 to 1,800 square feet. The project is expected to have 8,000 to 10,000 square feet of commercial space at the street level.

The cost of the building is estimated at $4 million to $10 million. No contractor has been selected yet to build it.

On the north side of Coeur d'Alene, a $4 million construction project is under way at the Parker Toyota auto dealership at the southwest corner of U.S. 95 and Kathleen Avenue.

The project is being built in two phases. The first phase is a 30,000-square-foot service area that will have 30 service bays, including three oil and lube lanes on the west side of the dealership. Once that building is completed, the dealership's 15-year-old shop, which has 18 service bays, will be dismantled to make way for a 30,000-square-foot showroom.

The service facility is scheduled to be completed this spring, and the showroom is to be finished this summer. Panco Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project, and Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d'Alene, designed it.

A building that will house an operations center for Coeur d'Alene-based Mountain West Bank is under construction in north Coeur d'Alene. Williamson-Johnson Co., of Coeur d'Alene, is the contractor on the project, which is located at 2123 N. Government Way. Eixenberger Architect, of Coeur d'Alene, designed it.

Parkwood Business Properties, of Coeur d'Alene, is developing the 31,800-square-foot building and has formed Glacier Government Way LLC, which will own it.

Mountain West will lease all of the space in the building, which will have two above-ground levels and a basement. About 100 Mountain West employees will work at the operations center.

Construction activity has slowed at the 161-acre Riverstone mixed-use development located between the Spokane River and Northwest Boulevard northwest of downtown Coeur d'Alene. Mike Craven, development manager for SRM Development LLC, of Spokane, says, however, that two delayed projects might start there this year. SRM Development is developing the Village at Riverstone, a 25-acre retail and residential center in the heart of the development.

One project that might start is a $15 million, 90,000-square-foot fitness facility for Peak Health & Wellness Center. The two-story building is planned just west of Riverstone Public Park, next to the Centennial Trail. It would have indoor courts for several sports, including basketball, volleyball, tennis, racquetball, and squash. Additionally the facility would offer indoor and outdoor lap pools, cardio equipment, a weight room, a pro shop, a juice bar, and a children's activity center.

A planned Hapa Fish Co. restaurant building is the other delayed project SRM Development hopes to see move ahead. The Park City, Utah-based eatery features a mix of Asian and island cuisine, and specialties include sushi and sake. The restaurant would be located at the northwest corner of Bebe Boulevard and Riverstone Drive, and would be across Bebe from a Red Robin Gourmet Burgers & Spirits Emporium restaurant.

The Peak Health & Wellness and Hapa Fish projects were delayed in January due to weak economic conditions, Craven says. Riverstone Center West LLC, an affiliate of SRM Development, would be the contractor on both projects.

Dave Tomson, also of SRM Development, says a committee plans to present findings soon from a $75,000 feasibility study that supports development of a 6,000-seat sports complex in Coeur d'Alene. One location envisioned for such a complex is land just south of Seltice Way in the northwest part of the Riverstone development and a portion of the former Simpson Mill on Atlas Road, which is now owned by Black Rock Development Inc., of Coeur d'Alene. Black Rock is developing commercial and residential properties along the Spokane River in Riverstone.

For now, Tomson declines to disclose the project cost or potential funding sources of the envisioned sports and entertainment venue.

The study was conducted by Conventions, Sports & Leisure International, a Wayzata, Minn.-based consulting firm that also did feasibility studies for the the 12,000-seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Gonzaga University's 6,000-seat McCarthey Athletic Center, and Washington State University's Martin Stadium.

Post Falls projects

Lowe's Cos., the Moresville, N.C.-based home-improvement retailer, is expected to submit building plans for a Lowe's outlet that would be located just east of Cabela's and just west of the planned Wal-Mart at the Pointe at Post Falls soon after Wal-Mart breaks ground near there, says Collin Coles, senior planner for the city of Post Falls.

A Sam's Club store that had been envisioned to go next to the Wal-Mart has been put on hold at least until the Beck Road-Interstate 90 interchange is constructed, says Eric Keck, the Post Falls city administrator. Sam's club is a members-only warehouse-store chain operated by Wal-Mart.

Foursquare Properties Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif, the developer of the Pointe at Post Falls, plans to construct the $25 million Beck Road freeway interchange on the west edge of Post Falls as soon as it receives design approval from the Federal Highway Administration, Keck says.

It's hoped the project will start this year, and it should take about a year to complete. HDR Engineering Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, is the primary engineering consultant for the project.

Foursquare Properties would pay for the work and would be reimbursed by the state of Idaho through a sales-tax reimbursement measure approved by the Legislature in 2007.

Oklahoma City-based Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. has bought 10 acres of land in the Expo at Post Falls site just east of the Pointe at Post Falls development and plans to build a 24-hour truck stop there with a fueling area, restaurant, and convenience store.

The site is located on the west side of Pleasant View Road, north of the westbound I-90 on-ramp and on the south side of Expo Parkway. The Post Falls facilities would be designed by an Oklahoma City architect that has yet to be selected, and the construction contract would be put out to bid locally, the company says.

Love's is conducting a traffic analysis at the Pleasant View interchange to help it determine whether there is enough traffic there to develop the truck stop this year, says Collin Coles, Post Falls senior planner.

Farther east in Post Falls the $50 million Garden Plaza skilled-nursing and retirement center is scheduled to be completed this year. The developer, Life Care Centers of America Inc., of Cleveland, Tenn., is acting as its own contractor on the project. Lantz-Boggio Architects PC, of Englewood, Colo., designed it, and the project engineer is Frame & Smetana PA, of Coeur d'Alene.

The project includes two main components. One is a 63,000-square-foot, 120bed skilled nursing facility with 40 private rooms and 40 semi-private rooms. The other is a 265,000-square-foot combined assisted- and independent-living facility with 95 apartments in a three-story assisted-living wing and 145 apartments in an attached three-story independent-living wing.

The skilled-nursing facility will be operated by Life Care Centers, and the apartments will be operated by Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Century Park Associates LLC, an affiliate of Life Care Centers.

Keck says he expects some improvement in the Post Falls residential building market, especially if the city annexes the proposed Prairie Crossing development site that straddles state Route 41 on the north side of Prairie Avenue. He says a Fred Meyer Stores outlet that's planned as part of a commercial development there might spur residential development in the Foxtail residential subdivision, which is on the east side of state Route 41, between Poleline and Prairie avenues. He says he's also expecting about 50 units of senior housing and 50 units of multi-family housing to be developed this year in the Tullamore development, which nearly surrounds Prairie Crossing.

Hayden highlights

Across U.S. 95 from the planned Wal-Mart site in Hayden, a pharmacy and retail outlet is under construction for Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co. Graham Construction & Management Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the 14,500-square-foot, $1.2 million structure, and Bernardo Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, designed it.

Key, Hayden's community development director, says she expects to see a development application this year from Hayden Canyon Land LLC, which is proposing a mixed-use development with up to 1,800 homes on a 616-acre parcel of land north of Government Way and east of Lancaster Avenue that was annexed by the city in September.

Also in Hayden, the U.S. Army has bought 10 acres of land near the Coeur d'Alene Airport, where it plans to build a 33,000-square-foot Army Reserve Center complex, Key says.

The proposed center would include a 24,500-square-foot training building, a 7,400-square-foot maintenance shop and a 900-square-foot storage building. No contractor or architect has been identified in the initial environmental engineering report for the project, which was conducted by Denver-based CH2M Hill.