A Seattle-area developer says he plans to start a hotel project northwest of Spokane International Airport before the end of the year.

The developer, Surinder Khela, says he will develop a 79-unit La Quinta Inn & Suites south of U.S. 2, at the northwest corner of Flight Drive and Deer Heights Road, just east of the city of Airway Heights. Access to the hotel will be from Lucas Drive, which connects to Flight Drive and U.S. 2.

Khela says the three-story, 44,000-square-foot hotel will cost $7.2 million to build and furnish. It will include an indoor pool, a hot tub, an exercise room, and a meeting room.

The hotel will employ eight to 10 people, Khela says.

Vandervert Developments LLC, of Spokane, owns the land on which the hotel will be built, he says. A related company, Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, will be the contractor on the project.

Khela says he chose that location at the recommendation of Dick Vandervert, who heads both companies.

The hotel's target customer base will be business and leisure travelers, including members of the armed forces and other government employees.

Steven P. Elkins Architects Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., designed the project, Khela says.

He says a building permit application for the project is in the final stages of review by Spokane County.

If construction starts in December as planned, the hotel should be completed in June, says Tim Stulc, vice president of Vandervert Construction.

The hotel will be near the Deer Creek Apartments, which Vandervert Construction also built.

Khela is the managing principal of Spokane LQ LLC, which will own the hotel. Other partners in that company are Khela's wife, Karen, and friends Jess and Donna Serrano, all Seattle-area residents.

"We decided we wanted to do a hotel, and we're excited about the Spokane market," Khela says.

He says the hotel will be the partners' first venture in commercial development, although he's developed some custom single-family homes priced from $1.2 million to $2.2 million in the Maple Valley area, about 25 miles southeast of Seattle.

Khela also is a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Commercial Danforth & Associates Inc., of Federal Way, Wash.

Portland-based Pacific Inns LLC will operate the hotel as a La Quinta franchise, he says.

LQ Management LLC, the Dallas-based parent company of La Quinta hotels, operates and provides franchise services to more than 650 hotels in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, including a hotel in Spokane Valley and one in Ritzville, Wash., the company's Web site says.