Coming off a record year for construction values for projects permitted throughout Spokane County in 2017, ongoing and planned projects are pointing toward another strong construction year in 2018.

Building permit values for Spokane County and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley combined reached $1.13 billion last year, with permit valuations in the city of Spokane alone tallying 25 percent higher in 2017 than the year earlier.

Kris Becker, the city’s building services director, has said Spokane has seen recent increases in projects with valuations for more than $1 million. For 2018, she anticipates strong permit activity for single-family home construction and medium-sized commercial projects.

As of mid-March, the city of Spokane has issued building permits for 55 single-family homes, slightly ahead of pace compared with the same period last year.

Residential subdivisions proposed this year include the 99-lot Eagle Ridge West Addition, in southwest Spokane, which is in the early planning stages. 

Also as of mid-March, 36 potential projects have been brought in for predevelopment conferences, ahead of 28 predevelopment applications submitted during the year-earlier period.

One of the larger projects expected to start this year will be the $50 million Catalyst project, which Avista Development Inc. is developing on the 500 and 600 blocks of east Sprague Avenue near the south landing of the University District pedestrian bridge.

Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, is erecting the $15.4 million city-owned bridge, which is expected to be completed in the fall.

Katerra Inc., the Menlo Park, Calif.-based design-build manufacturer, will be the contractor on the Catalyst project.

Katerra will build the Catalyst using cross-laminated timber panels which it will manufacture at a $35 million factory it’s constructing in the Barker-Euclid industrial area of Spokane Valley.

In the health care sector, Bouten Construction Co., and NAC Architecture, both of Spokane, are teamed up on the $34 million, 100-bed behavioral health hospital under construction at 104 W. Fifth, in Spokane’s lower South Hill medical district.

The same construction-design team is active in Coeur d’Alene, where Kootenai Health recently has launched the $12 million third phase of its master planned improvements which will entail converting 30,000 square feet of vacant space into patient rooms.

In the retail sector, Lydig Construction Inc. recently broke ground on the new Costco Wholesale Corp. warehouse store project a mile north of Spokane on the Newport Highway. 

Also in the retail and mixed-use sector, representatives of Radio Tower Village, and Commons on Regal, two separately planned South Hill shopping centers, say they might be close to announcing initial tenants and starting construction.

Projects also are in the works at established urban villages—Kendall Yards, northwest of downtown, and Riverstone, in Coeur d’Alene.

Major mixed-use projects downtown include The M building redevelopment, a $33 million renovation of the 10-story former Macy’s Building that will have retail space on the first and second floors and residential units in the rest of the building. Walker Construction Inc., is the contractor on The M project, and NAC designed it.

In a long-awaited $22 million redevelopment project downtown, Ron Wells Group, of Spokane, is converting the historic Ridpath Hotel and the attached “Y” building annex into apartment units and a few luxury penthouse condominiums. Wells says some units will be ready for lease this spring, and contractor Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, is expected to complete work on the $22 million project in early June.

Ongoing Riverfront Park improvements will focus this year on projects toward the center of the park as design-build team NAC, Garco, and Seattle-based Berger Partnership PS turn to the construction phase of the $16.5 million park pavilion project. Also this year, Garco is constructing improvements to the park’s north promenade valued at $4.1 million.