Beehive Homes, an assisted-living facility operator in North Idaho, plans to build a $3 million nursing home in Kellogg, Idaho, in 2005 and to start work on a $2.5 million addition to one of its two facilities in Coeur dAlene shortly.


Beehive, which provides care for about 60 senior citizens at two centers in Coeur dAlene, expects to finish a 20,000-square-foot expansion of its 30-unit complex at 2100 E. Sherman, by next summer, says Gary Ghramm, who co-owns Beehive Homes with his wife, Linda, and Teri Marshall and her husband, David. Beehive also operates a facility at 632 N. 21st in Coeur dAlene.


In addition, Beehive is considering building a $10 million-to-$20 million assisted-living complex in North Spokane, Ghramm says. He says that plan is preliminary, adding that no location has been selected yet. He anticipates that the Spokane complex would need to be built on a 10-acre site, with construction starting in 2006.


That facility could serve a couple hundred people, Ghramm says. We would have about 150 employees working there.


The addition to the facility on Sherman in Coeur dAlene will add 30 living units to the complex, which was built only about a year ago.


We have a waiting list for our rooms, Ghramm says. Once theyre finished, I dont anticipate having any problems filling them up.


The planned addition includes the construction of two 10,000-square-foot buildings. Each will have 15 bedrooms with private bathrooms, a communal kitchen and dining room, and a shared living room, Ghramm says. The design is more like that of a nursing home than what an assisted-living facility typically is considered to be in Washington, Ghramm says.


The definition of assisted living is different in Idaho than it is in Washington, he says.


The new buildings will be set up just like our current ones, he says. Were anxious to get these done so we can start on the project in the Silver Valley.


Beehive Homes is operated by Coeur dAlene-based Beehive North Idaho Inc. The company is a franchise of a national chain of assisted-living centers, which has about 140 operations in 14 states.


Beehive North Idaho, which employs 53 people now, expects to hire up to 75 more after it completes the Coeur dAlene addition and the Kellogg facility, Ghramm says.


Although the company doesnt have a location or a construction timetable yet for the proposed facility in Kellogg, Ghramm says the project likely will start early next year.


Were looking at three sites, and were pretty close to making a decision, he says. We think we can fill a need in the Silver Valley.


Beehive Development Inc., of Coeur dAlene, will be the contractor on both projects. Ghramm and his wife own the affiliated construction company. Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur dAlene, did the design work on the two Idaho projects.


The Kellogg facility is expected to be modeled after the Sherman Avenue facility. Rates for the units likely will range between $2,600 and $4,000 a month, which includes some assisted-living care.


Ghramm and his wife have been in the adult-care business for nearly 30 years, initially as operators of adult-family homes in Spokane, then in Coeur dAlene. The couple launched Beehive Homes in 1996.