A pair of Oregon investors has bought two large chunks of land at opposite ends of Post Falls and has development plans for the parcels that could result in a total of $32 million in work.


The two investors already have launched infrastructure improvements that are nearing completion on one of the sites, a planned 48-acre commercial and light-industrial business park at the western edge of Post Falls near the Washington-Idaho border, says Monte Risvold, a Tomlinson Black North Idaho Inc. executive who is marketing both properties.


Two businesses already have agreed to buy land in the business park that combined equals roughly a quarter of the property, Risvold says. Both plan to build new facilities there, he says, although he declines to disclose the two companies names until after the transactions close.


Meanwhile, in northeastern Post Falls, design work is under way on a 192-acre mixed-use development the investors are planning along state Route 41. As envisioned, that site would accommodate commercial lots, a multifamily-residential development, and a 425-lot subdivision for single-family homes, Risvold says.


The total value of the two projects is expected to be between $27 million and $32 million, he says.


Risvold declines to disclose the names of the two investors, but says both are businessmen from the McMinnville, Ore., area. One operates a wholesale nursery, and the other is involved in the timber industry, he says. They are developing the industrial park through Stateline Business Park LLC and the mixed-use development through Chesterfield Village LLC.


With the cost of land and the no-growth attitude on the coast, a lot of developers are looking inland, Risvold says.


The two projects here are the investors first developments in the Inland Northwest, he says.


The planned commercial and industrial park, to be called Stateline Business Park, is located along the south side of Seltice Way and is bisected by Baugh Way, a new road that extends from Seltice to the $25 million Sysco Corp. food-distribution center thats being built south of there.


Risvold says infrastructure improvements at Stateline Business Park are scheduled to be installed within the next two months.


He says a national building-materials and housewares manufacturer and distributor has agreed to buy just over 10 acres in the park, and a light-industrial manufacturer has agreed to take about 1 1/2 acres there. Both of those transactions are scheduled to be completed later this fall.


The mixed-use development site is located along the west side of state Route 41, between Prairie Avenue to the north and Poleline Avenue to the south. As envisioned, Risvold says, the commercial and multifamily-residential parts of the development would be located on the eastern portion of the site, nearest the highway, and the subdivision of single-family homes would be on the western part.


Infrastructure improvements, including a sewer extension to the site, are expected to get under way next year, and lots likely will be marketed for sale in early 2006, Risvold says.


The development initially was to be called Chesterfield Village, but Risvold says the investment group now is referring to it as Avondale Crossing.


Homes in the proposed subdivision there are expected to start at $250,000, Risvold says.


Growth along the Highway 41 corridor in Post Falls has moved northward with a handful of projects in recent months, including the $1.5 million Highway 41 Center that Baker Construction & Development Corp., of Spokane, is developing and a new Wendys Old-Fashioned Hamburgers restaurant.


In addition to development, a surge in vacant-land sales along Highway 41 is under way, with investors anticipating further development there, he says.