Construction projects approaching $250 million are planned or under way in Kootenai County despite having three high-profile projects recently taken off the table in Coeur d’Alene.

The north Kootenai County city of Hayden looks to be in position for a big boost in construction this year and in coming years.

There, Spokane developer Kent Hull and Hayden businessman Ron McIntire plan to develop a $50 million medical park on 7.5 acres of land on Government Way in Hayden’s central business district, Hull says.

The current vision for the campus includes a 90,000-square-foot main building, a smaller 12,000-plus-square-foot medical building, and a seven-floor, 85,000-square-foot active senior living center.

The complex will be in the design stage this year, and Hull says it could break ground as early as next year.

Connie Krueger, community and economic development director for the city of Hayden, says residential construction is about to ramp up in Hayden.

Two big subdivisions have been approved along Lancaster Avenue—one on each side of U.S. 95, Krueger says.

One subdivision, Hayden Village, has 224 single-family residential lots and three multifamily sites on which a total 65 living units are planned.

The other subdivision is the 102-lot first phase of the Hayden Canyon planned unit development, on the east side of Government Way, where it closely parallels U.S. 95.

The Hayden Canyon subdivision includes 90 single-family homes and 12 townhomes.

It’s part of a larger, 610-acre planned unit development, in which 1,800 living units are planned.

The developer said earlier that home prices in Hayden Canyon will range from $200,000 to $700,000.

Homes also are under construction in the 38-unit Gianna Estates subdivision near the southwest corner of Hayden Avenue and Atlas Road, where Viking Construction Inc., of Hayden, is marketing them at prices starting in the low $200,000s.

The city of Hayden issued 64 building permits for single-family homes in 2015. Residential construction has been trending upward since 2011, when the city reported only 31 new home starts.

In Hayden’s industrial center southwest of Lancaster Avenue and U.S. 95, Odom Corp., the Bellevue, Wash.-based wholesale beverage distributor, is erecting a $9.2 million, 92,000-square-foot distribution center and warehouse, where it plans to move its North Idaho operations from Coeur d’Alene.

The project site is on a 15-acre parcel of land at 12281 N. Warren.

Concord, H.H.-based Design Group Facilities Solutions Inc. is the contractor on the project, which the company also designed. Divcon Inc., of Spokane Valley, is a key subcontractor erecting much of the tilt-up concrete structure.

The project was permitted in October and is on expedited schedule to be completed this spring.

Closer to Hayden’s city center, Panera Bread, a Kirkwood, Mo.-based bakery chain, plans to construct a 5,100-square-foot freestanding restaurant building in the Prairie Shopping Center at the northeast corner of U.S. 95 and Prairie Avenue, where a former Burger King restaurant has been demolished, Krueger says.

Panera Bread hadn’t selected a contractor for the project as of earlier this month, she says.

A value for the project hadn’t been determined either, however, a same-sized Panera Bread restaurant building constructed last year in Spokane Valley was valued at $620,000.

A long-anticipated restaurant chain entering the Coeur d’Alene market this year is Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, which is constructing an $850,000, 10,400-square-foot restaurant and gift-store building at 1675 Lee Court.

The restaurant site is north of Interstate 90 in northwest Coeur d’Alene, just south of the WinCo Foods-anchored CrossRoads Coeur d’Alene retail center.

Clayton, Ohio-based Ideal Co. is the contractor on the project, which is expected to be completed in June, and Design Engineering Inc., of Avon Lake, Ohio, designed it.

Nearly a mile south of there, Coeur d’Alene businessman Ron Ayers proposes to develop a $10 million, 112-room Marriott-affiliated Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel, at 1808 Northwest Blvd.

The four-story hotel would be erected just east of the Garden Motel, which is located at 1808 Northwest Boulevard, says Dick Stauffer, of Miller Stauffer Architects PA, which is designing the project. Ayers also owns the Garden Motel.

The project still must go through the permitting stage, Stauffer says.

He says Ayers hopes to start construction this summer and to open it to guests in spring 2017.

The hotel will anchor a commercial center with two other pad sites, and the developer is pursuing options for other tenants, Stauffer says.

West of Northwest Boulevard, the Riverstone urban village development is teeming with construction activity.

Advanced Health Care Corp., a Fruitland, Idaho-based operator of short-term nursing and rehabilitation facilities, is constructing a $5.2 million, 34-bed rehabilitation center at 1578 W. Riverstone Drive.

Ginno Construction Co., of Coeur d’Alene, is the contractor on that project, which is scheduled to be completed in August, and The Richardson Design Partnership, of Salt Lake City, designed it.

Seattle-based Anthony’s Restaurant Group plans to open an Anthony’s seafood restaurant in Riverstone this spring when a $1.2 million construction project is scheduled to be completed.

Yost Mooney & Pugh Contractors Inc. is erecting the 6,100-square-foot restaurant building at 1926 W. Riverstone Drive, and Miller Stauffer Architects designed it.

Whitewater Creek Inc., of Hayden, is developing Riverstone Silver, a $6.3 million, 80-unit senior-housing project near the north edge of the Riverstone development. The project site is located on the south half of a 10-acre parcel of land on the southeast corner of Seltice Way and Riverstone Drive.

Whitewater Creek is acting as its own contractor on the project, and ZBA Architecture, of Spokane, designed it.

Dozens of luxury homes are in some state of construction or design in Riverstone.

Along Bellerive Lane, riverfront and second-tier homes with values ranging from $400,000 to more than $1 million are being constructed by custom homebuilders, including Aspen Homes & Development LLC, of Coeur d’Alene; Monogram Homes, of Post Falls; Gunder Construction Inc., of Liberty Lake; and Monarch Custom Homes, of Coeur d’Alene.

Farther west, toward the interior of the residential section of Riverstone, ActiveWest Builders LLC, of Coeur d’Alene, is developing Riviera Walk, a 23-lot subdivision with single-story and-two story homes with prices starting at $370,000.

A few construction setbacks have occurred during all of this activity; three big projects have been suspended in Coeur d’Alene, at least for now.

One of the withdrawn projects was a preliminary plan in which the Hagadone Corp. proposed to build a second 12-story, 158-room addition to the Coeur d’Alene Resort. That project was still in the early design-review stage when it was suspended late last year.

Another project that failed to get off the ground was One Lakeside tower, a 15-story mixed-use high-rise that had been planned at the northwest corner of First Street and Lakeside Avenue on the western edge of downtown.

The city had approved the project and issued building permits for it before the Aspen, Colo.-based developer backed away.

The long-planned, $8.5 million Midtown mixed-use project that had been proposed at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Roosevelt Avenue, has been canceled due to lingering neighborhood concerns about the workforce housing aspect of the project.

Some envisioned projects, however, are gaining momentum in Coeur d’Alene, says Tony Berns, executive director of Ignite CDA, the city’s urban renewal agency.

The first elements of the Four Corners master plan are expected to be constructed this year, including a $2 million realignment of Mullan Road and parking improvements near Memorial Field.

The Four Corners master plan area includes 40 acres of land along a two-mile stretch on the west side of the Northwest Boulevard corridor, most of which is controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. It spans from Independence Point on the west edge of downtown north to the Riverstone development.

A community drive is under way to return an antique carousel to operational condition as another element of the Four Corners master plan.

In that effort, the Coeur d’Alene Carousel Foundation is attempting to raise $450,000 to restore and house the Carousel near Memorial Field on land the city has agreed to lease to the nonprofit.

The Carousel had operated at Playland Pier at Independence Point for more than three decades starting in 1942.

Options in the nearly $20 million master plan include an arboretum, several unique sports fields, a Memorial Field plaza with grandstands, trail improvements throughout the area, a new museum building, and improved Spokane River accesses.

Berns says the improvements could be funded through a number of sources over a period of several years.

West of the Four Corners area, the Idaho Division of Public Works is reviewing bids for design services for a planned $9.7 million North Idaho Collaborative Education Facility, a joint project for North Idaho College, Lewis-Clark State College, and the University of Idaho.

The facility will serve as the schools’ one-stop center for student admissions, financial aid, and advising.

The two-story, 40,000-square-foot structure will be located at the north entrance to the North Idaho College campus, at the southwest corner of Hubbard Avenue and College Drive.

Berns says the project will be in the design stage this year, and construction likely would start in 2017.

Also, North Idaho College is constructing a $20 million Career Technical Education Facility on the Rathdrum Prairie.

The 110,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to open in time for student enrollment next fall, will be home to NIC’s technical education programs in automotive technology, diesel technology, machining, industrial mechanics and millwright training, outdoor power-vehicle technology, and welding.

Spokane-based Leone & Keeble Inc. is the contractor on the project. The design team is led by Architects West Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, and includes LSB Consulting Engineers PLLC, of Spokane; the Spokane office of Seattle-based Coffman Engineers Inc.; Coeur d’Alene-based Trindera Engineering Inc.; the Coeur d’Alene office of Boise-based J-U-B Engineers Inc.; and Opsis Architecture, of Portland.

The project site is on a 40-acre parcel of land that NIC owns on west Lancaster Road, just west of the Kootenai Technical Education Campus, which is operated by a consortium of three school districts in Kootenai County.

In west Coeur d’Alene, Ignite CDA has approved $3.5 million in funding to reconstruct a 1.5-mile length of Seltice Way.

The project currently is in the design phase and likely will be put out for contractor bids for the 2017 construction season, Berns says.

The city is expediting the project with local funding, because development and population growth along Seltice Way is adding to congestion, yet the project has no priority for federal funding for at least five more years.

Farther west, the Post Falls School District is constructing a new elementary school and adding two additions to Post Falls High School.

Contractors Northwest Inc. is constructing the yet-to-be-named $8 million elementary school at the northeast corner of Greensferry Road and Bunting Lane in northeast Post Falls. 

The 47,000-square-foot school, which will have a capacity of 500 students, is scheduled to open next fall.

Ginno Construction is constructing a $3.7 million auxiliary gym and performing arts auditorium additions at Post Falls High School, at 2832 E. Poleline. That project also is scheduled to be completed next fall.

Architects West Inc. designed the new elementary school and high school additions.

The projects will be funded through a $19.5 million bond measure that district voters approved last year.

Kootenai Health is expanding in Post Falls, with construction under way on a $10.5 million expansion at its campus at 1300 E. Mullan.

The 22,000-square-foot, two-story addition is expected to be completed by early next year.

Bouten Construction Co., of Spokane, is the construction manager on the project, and Spokane-based NAC Architecture designed it.

The new space will include physician offices and radiology, pharmacy, and laboratory services.

The city of Post Falls is working on a $14.8 million upgrade project at its wastewater treatment plant at 2002 W. Seltice Way.

The project includes constructing a new headworks facility, two equalization tanks, a pump station, and improvements to the plant’s solids loading equipment.

TML Construction Inc., of Hayden, is the contractor on the project, and J-U-B Engineers Inc. designed it.

The treatment plant upgrade project is expected to be completed next winter.

In unincorporated Kootenai County, near the northwest edge of Post Falls, Bighorn Farm LLC, of Spokane Valley, is developing Bighorn Farm Industrial Park on 206 acres of land at the northwest corner of Poleline Avenue and Pleasant View Road.

The developer is dividing the land into 38 roughly 5-acre parcels. Lots in the first 11-lot phase of the industrial park are being marketed for $250,000.

Lots will be available for lease or purchase, and Bighorn Farm plans to build a 15,000-square-foot, two-tenant building there on speculation, to get the park started.

Bighorn Farm co-owner George Lawrence earlier told the Journal that the land value alone for the park will exceed $5 million.