Liberty Lake is enjoying a spate of big commercial projects, and theres no letup expected soon in the flow of residential building in the six-year-old city.


Doug Smith, director of planning and community development, says building permit values this year are on track to exceed permit values in 2006. As of mid-October, the city had issued permits for residential projects valued at $22 million and for commercial projects valued at $21 million. The total of $43 million in valuations is about 10 percent ahead of the pace in the year-earlier period, he says.


Every year is a record, Smith says. We didnt think it would be sustainable, but we keep being surprised at what comes in the door.


New and recent projects


One of the recent commercial projects is a 56,000-square-foot, $4.6 million building that will house an Ashley Furniture HomeStore outlet just west of the Home Depot Inc. store on the north side of Country Vista Drive. The structure, which is being built by Graham Construction & Management Inc., of Spokane, is expected to open in March.


Another recent project is a 30,000-square-foot addition that will triple the size of the F5 Networks Inc. plant at 1322 N. Whitman Lane, on the north side of Country Vista Drive, east of Home Depot. Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, expects to complete the project this winter for F5, a Seattle-based maker of computer networking equipment.


Earlier this month, Mario & Son Inc. opened its new 44,000-square-foot stone fabrication plant on Eagle Lane in east Liberty Lake and moved there from smaller quarters in Spokane Valley.


In July, MasterCraft Inland Northwest opened a boat dealership in a new $2.7 million, 10,800-square-foot building on 3 acres of land at 19651 E. Cataldo.


Also this past summer, Safeway Inc. remodeled its 40,000-square-foot store at 1233 N. Liberty Lake Road at a cost of $2.7 million.


In the spring of last year, George Gee Automotive Group opened its Porsche of Spokane dealership in a 10,000-square-foot, $2 million-plus building it had constructed north of Interstate 90, just east of its Hummer dealership.


In one of the biggest Liberty Lake projects in recent memory, Home Depot Inc. opened a 102,000-square-foot facility early last year on a 14-acre site on the north side of Country Vista Drive, in the Liberty Lake Commerce Park.


Smith says he expects strong commercial and residential growth to continue because the city has expanded its borders to sustain growth.


Last year, Liberty Lake annexed about 644 acres of land bordered by the Spokane River to the north and extending to just south of Country Vista Drive. The property borders on the city of Spokane Valleys limits on its west side.


The land includes much of River District at Liberty Lake, a planned community development north of I-90 that would add 2,000 to 3,000 more residences over the next 20 to 30 years, Smith says. Liberty Lake had an estimated population of 6,580 in April, the citys Web site says.


Without the annexation, Liberty Lake would have been built out within five years, with virtually no land left in which it could grow, Smith says.


River District is being developed by River Crossing LLC, a company formed by Greenstone Corp., of Liberty Lake, and Centennial Properties Inc., of Spokane. Centennial Properties, a subsidiary of Inland Empire Paper Co., is owned by Cowles Co., a subsidiary of which owns the Journal of Business.


River Crossing LLC began construction this summer on the Bitterroot Lodge apartment complex, which will include 19 buildings and 144 units, Smith says. The project site is at 1925 N. Bitterroot, about a quarter-mile northeast of the Porsche of Spokane dealership. The first tenants are expected to move into the complex late this year or early next year.


In another big project, site work is under way on Liberty Village, a 100-acre mixed-use development on the eastern edge of Liberty Lake south of Appleway Avenue. Liberty Lake Investments LLC, of Hayden, Idaho, is planning 917 living units in a mixture of single-family homes, condominiums, apartments, and an assisted-living facility to be built in several phases over the next decade on the Liberty Village site.


Liberty Village also is expected to include a 35-acre commercial center with three-story buildings that will have office and retail spaces on their first floors and apartments and condominium units on their upper floors.


Scot Auble, president of Auble Jolicoeur & Gentry, a Spokane appraisal company, says some concerns had arisen prior to the River District annexation that Liberty Lake was about to face a shortage of land for affordable residential construction. The annexation, though, expanded the size of the city by 20 percent to a total of about 3,950 acres of land, staving off a land shortage, he says.


The River District offers another run at residential product, he says.


That, in turn will create more demand for more retail and commercial development, he says, adding, New and attractive breeds new and attractive.


Auble says Liberty Lake also has plenty of upper-end homes, such as those in the 500-lot Legacy Ridge gated community, which is being built by Coeur dAlene developer Marshall Chesrowns Black Rock Development Inc.


Realtors are moving in on the action at Liberty Lake.


Century 21 Beutler & Associates opened a two-story, 12,000-square-foot office in Liberty Lake last year at 1328 N. Whitman. Tim Shea, the branch manager there, says home sales so far this year in Liberty Lake are right at last years level, and this years sales in October were above those in September.


He says homes currently are priced for diverse buyers, beginning at $184,000 for starter homes and going up to $2.5 million or more for luxury homes.


Its a great destination, and its close to Coeur dAlene and Spokane, he says of Liberty Lake.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.