High-profile construction projects valued at more than $210 million are planned or under way this year in Kootenai County, which has been seeing a steady surge in construction over the last few years. Multiyear residential developments potentially exceeding another $150 million also are on the drawing boards.

In perhaps the most visible multiyear project in North Idaho, Kootenai Health is in the midst of a $45 million second expansion phase under its current master plan at its main hospital, at 2003 Kootenai Health Way, near the northwest corner of U.S. 95 and Ironwood Drive.

Kootenai Health CEO Jon Ness says the expansion is part of the Coeur d’Alene-based hospital district’s goal to be recognized as a premier regional medical center in the U.S. by 2020.

“We have a long-range facility plan, so you can expect us to be under construction for some time,” Ness said as keynote speaker at the recent Kootenai County Commercial Real Estate Forum, in Coeur d’Alene.

The largest components of the Coeur d’Alene project include expansion of the surgery department and the emergency department at the main hospital.

The $24 million surgery department expansion site will be on the north end of the second floor of the main hospital in space that had been vacated by the labor-and-delivery unit, which moved into the 100,000-square-foot, first-phase expansion last year.

A $15 million emergency department expansion will be on the south side of the main floor of the hospital.

The project will extend the department by an additional 6,000 square feet, in which Kootenai Health is adding two trauma rooms for a total of four, and 11 treatment rooms for a total of 36.

Two other components of the project will reconfigure 6,000 square feet of underused hallway and storage space to expand the hospital’s pharmacy and its central supply and sterile processing department.

In a separate but simultaneous $10.5 million project, Kootenai Health also is expanding the Kootenai Health Park campus at 1300 E. Mullan in Post Falls.

That project includes a 22,000-square-foot addition and interior improvements, providing new space for clinics and ancillary health care services.

“That’s under way and will be complete later this year,” Ness said. “We will go from 15 doctors there to 30.”

Tenants at Kootenai Health Park will include Kootenai Health’s affiliated practices, Kootenai Family Medicine, Kootenai Heart Clinics Northwest, and Kootenai OB-GYN. 

The expanded facilities also will have space for additional practices and programs.

Bouten Construction Co., of Spokane, is the general contractor and construction manager on both Kootenai Health projects, and Spokane-based NAC Architecture designed them.

The health care network launched both projects in mid-2016, shortly after completing the $57 million first phase of the flagship hospital’s current master plan.

In Hayden, Spokane developer Kent Hull and Hayden businessman and former Mayor Ron McIntire are forming plans to develop a $50 million medical park on 7.5 acres of land on Government Way in Hayden’s central business district.

The concept for the campus incudes a 90,000-square-foot main building, a 12,000-square-foot medical building, and a seven-floor, 85,000-square-foot active senior-living center.

The concept is in the design phase, and Hull says he’s working with the city of Hayden on the permitting process.

In Coeur d’Alene, businessman Ron Ayers is planning a $20 million entrepreneurial-focused economic development complex to be called Coeurllaborate on 5 acres of land at 1808 Northwest Blvd., east of the Riverstone Development.

The first phase of the complex will be a $10 million, 112-room Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott.

Other phases will include a 16,000-square-foot, three-story co-working facility to be named Coeurwork, and Incoeurbate, an 18,000-square-foot business incubator facility.

Ayers has said Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane, likely will be the contractor for the development, and Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d’Alene, is designing it.

West of downtown Coeur d’Alene, North Idaho College is erecting a $7.7 million student and wellness recreation center on the north part of its main campus, at 920 W. River.

The two-story, 30,000-square-foot center will include a gymnasium, an elevated running track, a weight room, a spinning area, a climbing wall, fitness classrooms, a multipurpose room, locker rooms, and administrative offices.

Ginno Construction Co., of Coeur d’Alene, is the contractor on the project, which is expected to be completed this summer, and ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, designed it.

Near there, the Idaho state Department of Public Works has selected H2A Architects PA, of Coeur d’Alene, and Integrus Architecture PS, of Spokane, to design a $9.7 million North Idaho Collaborative Education facility. The two-story, 30,000-square-foot structure will be located at the northwest corner of Hubbard and River avenues and College Drive, near the north entrance to the North Idaho College campus.

The project, which will include 16 classrooms, computer labs, breakout rooms, and support spaces, is scheduled to go out for contractor bids next February, and construction is expected to begin in April 2018.

Apartments

East of the Coeur d’Alene city center, Lake Drive Apartments LLC, of Coeur d’Alene, has proposed a 30-unit, five-story upscale apartment project at 315 E. Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive, near the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.

Ben Widmyer, who heads Lake Drive Apartments, says the $3.5 million project will include 3,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor with room for a drive-thru tenant.

Yost Gallagher Construction, of Spokane, is the contractor on the project, and Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d’Alene, is designing it.

Widmyer says construction could start as early as the end of April and be completed toward the end of the year.

The project will be aimed at middle- and upper-income tenants, which Widmyer says is a growing market.

The similarly named Lake Apartments is another project aimed at the middle and upper income markets. CDA Mullan Partners LLC, of Hamilton, Mont., is proposing to construct Lake Apartments as a $10 million, 47-unit upscale apartment complex on a half block of land on the northeast corner of Eight Street and Mullan Avenue, near the Coeur d’Alene Public Library. Glenn Construction Co., of Hamilton, is listed as the contractor on the project, and Momentum Architecture Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, is designing it. 

The developer proposes to begin construction this year and to complete the project in 2018.

For seniors, prolific multifamily housing developer Whitewater Creek Inc., of Hayden, is constructing Seltice Seniors, a $5.2 million, 66-unit senior-living apartment complex, on 5 acres of land near the southeast corner of Seltice Way and Riverstone Drive, in the Riverstone mixed-use development.

Whitewater Creek is acting as its own contractor, and ZBA Architecture PS, of Spokane, designed the project, which includes one 42-unit apartment building and four six-unit buildings.

In the largest highway project set to begin this year in Kootenai County, the Idaho Department of Transportation will begin construction in late spring on a two-year, $21.2 million Interstate 90 restoration project, says Marvin Fenn, Coeur d’Alene-based district engineering manager for the department.

The project will encompass a four-mile stretch of I-90 between the interchange at Northwest Boulevard in northwest Coeur d’Alene and the Sherman Avenue interchange on the east edge of the Lake City, Fenn says.

Project improvements will include excavation and replacement of base materials, paving, stormwater system upgrades, guardrail and barrier upgrades, striping, and traffic control.

Construction this year will be from the Ninth Street overpass to Sherman Avenue, Fenn says, adding that the Ninth Street to Northwest Boulevard portion of the project will be constructed in 2018.

In downtown Coeur d’Alene, ignite cda, the city’s urban renewal agency, is in the design phase of a four-level downtown parking garage planned on a half-block of land the agency owns on the south side of Coeur d’Alene Avenue, between Third and Fourth streets, says Tony Berns, ignite cda executive director.

As currently envisioned, the structure would have 360 parking spaces. A preliminary design headed by Miller Stauffer Architects put the project cost estimate at $5.9 million.

“We’re now seeking a design team, which we will hopefully have on board in April,” Berns says.

Ignite cda hopes to have the final design complete by midsummer so the city of Coeur d’Alene can obtain construction bids and award a contract in time to begin construction late in the year.

In west Coeur d’Alene, Seltice Way improvements valued at $4.6 million will start this year, Berns says.

The scope of the project has been expanded to become a  revitalization project, adding $1 million to the original concept of a rehabilitation project focusing on road surface and base replacement,  some traffic controls, and improved streetlighting.

As a revitalization project, added work will include two-lane roundabouts at the Seltice intersections at Atlas and Grand Mill roads, transit stops at both intersections, a protected bike lane, and a shared-use path.

The city of Coeur d’Alene plans to award a construction contract this month for work to begin in April or May. The project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2018.

Welch Comer & Associates Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, designed the project.

Ignite cda has a number of smaller projects out for combined bid in the Four Corners area west of Northwest Boulevard, Berns says. The project elements have a total value budgeted at $2.2 million, including $615,000 anticipated in grants and outside funding.

The Four Corners master plan area includes 40 acres of underdeveloped land along a two-mile stretch of former railroad right of way on the west side of the Northwest Boulevard corridor. The area spans from Independence Point on the west edge of downtown Coeur d’Alene north to the Riverstone development. 

Project elements planned for this year include a plaza restroom, pickleball and futsal courts, a playground, a skate park, a commuter trail, a picnic shelter, and Memorial Field grading and maintenance.

Coinciding with the ignite cda Four Corners projects, the city of Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County jointly plan to expand a surface parking lot near Memorial Field west of the county’s downtown campus, says Sam Taylor, deputy city administrator.

The county has budgeted $1.3 million to develop nearly 150 new parking spaces and will have exclusive use of the total 266 parking spaces there during business hours, Taylor says.

The city will manage and maintain the parking lot and will collect revenue from public parking there during off hours, weekends, and holidays.

Also within the Four Corners area, the Coeur d’Alene Carousel Foundation is more than halfway to its goal in a community fundraising effort to raise $450,000 to restore and house a historic carousel near Memorial Field.

The 1922 hand-carved carousel, which had operated at the former Playland Pier at Independence Point for more than three decades, is expected to open this summer.

Ginno Construction is the contractor on the project, and Element Architecture, of Coeur d’Alene, designed it.

Subdivisions

Several residential subdivision projects are being lined up in Kootenai County, with some of the largest planned in Hayden.

The Hayden City Council recently approved Hayden Village, a nearly 300-unit residential subdivision to be developed on a 65-acre tract of land at the northwest corner of Lancaster Road and Vernon J. Baker Boulevard, about six miles north of I-90 and a few blocks west of U.S. 95.

Preliminary plans show the project would have more than 200 single-family lots. The remainder of the living units would be apartments that would be constructed in three buildings. The plans show the development also will include two commercial lots.

The project will be constructed in multiple phases, the first of which the developer hopes to begin this year.

Aspen Homes & Development LLC, a Coeur d’Alene custom home builder, is heading up construction at Hayden Village.

The company currently is marketing homes in four other Hayden subdivisions with prices starting in the low $300,000s.

Another developer is marketing home sites at Hayden Canyon, a large multiphase subdivision planned a few blocks east of Hayden Village, northeast of Lancaster Road and Government Way.

The developer, American Land Fund, has listed on its website 366 single-family home and townhome lots for immediate sale in the first phase of the development.

The developer has said single-family home prices in Hayden Canyon will range from $200,000 to $700,000.

The Hayden Canyon master plan includes 1,800 living units on 610 acres of land.

Also in Hayden, Spokane Valley-based Viking Construction Inc. is seeking preliminary approval of a subdivision to be called Carrington Meadows that would include 52 single-family residential lots and a commercial lot to be located on a 20-acre tract of land on the north side of Hayden Avenue roughly midway between Huetter and Atlas roads.

Viking Construction, which does business as Viking Homes, typically builds single-family homes in the $200,000 to $330,000 price range, which puts a conservative estimate for the total value of the proposed subdivision at $14 million.

The development company also owns 60 acres of land adjacent to the Carrington Meadows site that it plans to develop in future phases.

In Post Falls, Orgill Inc., the Memphis, Tenn.-based hard goods distribution company, is completing $7.3 million in improvements at its west Post Falls distribution plant at 1881 W. Seltice Way.

The company is installing material-handling systems and constructing a 25,000-square-foot addition as part of a renovation project, bringing the former Kimball Office Inc. furniture factory building, which Orgill bought in August, to about 500,000 square feet.

Kuecker Logistics Group, of Melton, Mo., is the contractor on the project, and Covina, Calif.-based Seizmic Inc. designed it.

Several apartment projects are planned or underway in Post Falls.

•Rudeen Development LLC, of Liberty Lake, is developing Bel Cielo Apartments, a 96-unit complex near the southeast corner of state Route 41 and 16th Avenue in north Post Falls.

•TCA Holding, an affiliate of Whitewater Creek, is developing The Villas, a $4.8 million, 84-unit, seven-building project on the northwest corner of Poleline Avenue and Charleville Road in in the Tullamore Commons area of north Post Falls.

•Whitewater Creek also is developing Pointe Apartments, a 75-unit apartment project recently launched on a 5-acre parcel of land on the north side of Expo Parkway in northwest Post Falls.

•Thomas Anderl, of Coeur d’Alene, is developing River City Villas, a $2.4 million, 32-unit rental complex on north Corbin Road, between Seltice Way and I-90 in west Post Falls.