Phase 1 Physical Therapy LLC, of Suncrest, has begun site work for a planned $1 million building that will house its offices and Suncrest Fitness Inc., a new membership-based fitness center, says owner Joel San Nicolas.


San Nicolas says he hopes to move his physical therapy practice into the 9,700-square-foot building by December. The physical therapy office will occupy about 1,200 square feet of the building. He also will own the fitness center, and says he hopes to open it at about the same time.


The building, which he says hes been planning for more than three years, will be located at 6066 state Route 291, about one mile north of the Suncrest Outpost shopping center.


Martin J. Hill Architecture Inc., of Spokane, designed the building, and Kofmehl Inc., of Spokane, will construct it. Phase 1 already has permits for foundation work, with building permits soon to follow, San Nicolas says. AmericanWest Bank is providing financing for the project, he says.


San Nicolas says he intends to add another 10,000 square feet of space to the building later and possibly develop a strip mall elsewhere on the 5.5-acre piece of land.


Though Phase 1s growing physical therapy practice is small, San Nicolas says he expects the fitness center to be popular within the Suncrest community, located about 10 miles northwest of Spokane.


San Nicolas says he considers pairing a fitness center with a physical therapy office to be a natural business extension. Patients often have difficulty following through on home exercise programs prescribed by a physical therapist, he says, adding that having a fitness facility next door will facilitate patient rehabilitation.


Conversely, he says, people who use gyms sometimes injure themselves, so it will be convenient for fitness members to have a physical therapy office next door as well.


The fitness center will include a strengthening and conditioning area with cardiovascular machines, San Nicolas says, along with free weights and weight machines. Better Body Fitness Inc., of Spokane, will supply the equipment, he says.


The facility also will have a multipurpose floor for classes such as step aerobics, Pilates, and yoga, as well as two racquetball courts and a child-care room, San Nicolas says.


He says hes already been approached by groups in the community that might rent the floor space for other classes as well.


San Nicolas is a Nine Mile Falls resident, and a 1989 graduate of Eastern Washington Universitys physical therapy program.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.