Spokane-area apartment construction is gaining momentum this year with a recent surge of projects totaling more than 850 living units with a combined valued of nearly $120 million in the planning or early construction phases.

That doesn’t include hundreds of units that are well under construction in previously reported projects such as the $17.5 million, 204-uint Bella Tess apartment complex at 17016 E. Indiana Parkway, in Spokane Valley, and a $9.3 million, 72-unit apartment complex under construction at 4805 S. Ben Burr Road, on the Moran Prairie. 

It also doesn’t count recently completed projects such as the $10 million, 61-unit apartment building at 940 N. Ruby.

Handling two of the larger new projects, Whitewater Creek, of Hayden, and nonprofit development partner Commonwealth Agency Inc., also of Hayden, are proposing to construct two affordable housing complexes in Airway Heights. 

One is Basalt Ridge Apartments, a $32.4 million, 240-unit complex to be built in the 13600 block of west Sixth Avenue, near the western edge of Airway Heights. The other is Galena Heights Apartments, a $12.9 million, 75-unit complex to be developed just east of the Basalt Ridge project.

The developers couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Margaret Graham, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, says the developers are seeking financing for the Basalt Ridge project through a combination of low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt financing totaling up to $26 million.

The commission could reach a decision on the funding request this month, Graham says.

The Basalt Ridge complex would have 24 one-bedroom units, 144 two-bedroom units, and 72 three-bedroom units distributed in 12 buildings, she says.

The project also would include a community building, a community garden, a playground, and a business center, Graham says.

Living units at Basalt Ridge would be reserved for residents making no more than 60 percent of the median area income, she says.

The commission approved in June up to $10 million in tax credits for the $12.9 million Galena Heights project.

“We approve the allocation of low-income housing tax credits, and developers sell them to investors to make equity,” Graham says.

Project costs can include land acquisition, construction, financing, and other development costs.

“Tax credits come with a lot of strings,” Graham says adding that projects funded by them are subject to monitoring for up to 40 years.

Galena Ridge will have four three-story apartment buildings and a community building, she says. The project will have six one-bedroom units, 45 two-bedroom units and 24-three bedroom units, she says.

Graham says 30 of the units will be set aside for tenants making no more than 30 percent of the area median household income, and the rest will be targeted at residents making no more than 50 percent of the area median household income.

Some units also will be set aside for disabled residents and some will be reserved for large households, she says.

Derrick Braaten, development services director with the city of Airway Heights, says he expects the developers will submit building permit application for the Galena project soon.

The Basalt Ridge project was under environmental review as of last week.

“It’s possible they both will get started before winter,” Braaten says. “I can see some site work at a minimum occurring this year.”

He says the developments will provide options for people living in the Fairchild Air Force Base crash zone to move to new housing. He says the city also supports the apartment proposals, because they potentially will provide housing for future employees of the Spokane Tribe casino resort hotel, which the tribe plans to develop in phases over the next decade.

ZBA Architecture PS, of Spokane, is designing the Galena and Basalt Ridge projects.

In a large apartment development planned east of Spokane, the city of Spokane Valley issued building permits last week for a $12.7 million, 114-unit apartment complex, proposed by longtime Spokane Valley developer A&A Construction & Development Inc., says Luis Garcia, the Valley’s development services coordinator.

The development, named Aspen Village Apartments, will be located at the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and Cannery Road, a couple of blocks west northwest of Shelley Lake.

Aspen Village will include five apartment buildings, four of which will have 24 apartment units, Garcia says, adding that the fifth building will have 18 units.

The project also will include a 1,200-square-foot leasing office and six ground-level garage structures with a total of 36 spaces, he says.

The building permit application lists Wyatt Architects & Associates PLLC, of Spokane Valley, as the architect on the project.

A&A Construction couldn’t be reached for comment.

A&A Construction also is proposing to construct a 144-unit apartment complex tentatively named City View Apartments at 1403 S. Assembly Road, in west Spokane, predevelopment documents filed recently with the city of Spokane show.

The project site is on a vacant 5-acre parcel of land a few blocks north of Sunset Boulevard, and south of the Indian Canyon and Court at Indian Canyon apartment complexes, which are near the Indian Canyon Golf Course driving range.

A&A Construction twice has proposed to construct an apartment complex there under the name of Canyon Pointe, in 2007 and 2012.

The predevelopment documents don’t list a project value, but the 144-unit Canyon Pointe project value had been estimated at $9.6 million in 2012.

Floor plans for the City View project show the complex would have three structures with four stories of apartments and one or two additional levels of underground parking.

Most living units would be two-bedroom apartments, although some would be one-bedroom units and some would have up to four bedrooms, the floor plans show.

The complex would have 135 covered parking spaces and 103 exterior spaces, preliminary plans show.

Nystrom+Olson Architecture, of Spokane, is designing the project.

A&A Construction currently is erecting the $17.9 million, 184-unit Granite Pointe III apartment complex at 12928 E. Mansfield, for which the contractor obtained building permits in May.

In Spokane, University Housing Partners, a San Clemente, Calif., development company, is proposing a $20 million mixed-use project to be called University District Apartments, predevelopment documents filed recently with the city of Spokane show.

The project site would be the former Downtown Midas Muffler location at the southeast corner of Division Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard.

David Schneider, managing principal with University Housing Partners, couldn’t be reached for comment. Schneider also is a principal in the company that developed the apartment complex that opened recently at 940 N. Ruby.

The University District Apartments project would include 154 apartment units ranging in size from studio apartments to three-bedroom units on five floors above ground-level parking.

The ground level also would include 12,000 square feet of multitenant retail space lined along north Division Street and east Spokane Falls Boulevard.

The project is the third project proposed at the predevelopment stage for that location in as many years. Last year, Spokane developer Lanzce Douglass proposed constructing Falls Tower, which was envisioned as a 26-floor, mixed-use tower. In 2014, Spokane Valley dentist Philip Rudy submitted a predevelopment application that proposed a $50 million, 35-story tower there.

In unincorporated Spokane County, Groundhog Heaven LLC, an affiliate of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based developer The Wolff Co., recently obtained building permits to construct the $16.3 million second phase of the Pine Valley Ranch apartment complex, just south of Spokane Valley.

The project site is at 10308 E. 32nd, abutting the northeast portion of the first phase, which is at 3711 S. State Route 27.

The second phase will include six three-story apartment buildings, each with 20 to 24 units, and six single-story garage structures with a total of 36 parking stalls.

The Seattle office of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Katerra Inc. is the contractor on the project, and Bernardo|Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, designed it.

The Wolff Co., which has Spokane roots, developed the $25.7 million, 256-unit initial phase of Pine Valley Ranch in 2010.

In Coeur d’Alene, CDA Mullan Partners LLC, of Hamilton, Mont., is proposing to construct Lake Apartments, a $10 million, 47-unit upscale apartment building.

The project site is at the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Mullan Avenue, across Eighth from the Coeur d’Alene Public Library. 

Project representatives couldn’t be reached for comment.

The Lake Apartments project currently is under design review by the city of Coeur d’Alene.

Ignite cda, Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency, last month approved a tax-increment financing request that would reimburse the developer for up to $569,000 to construct public-infrastructure improvements at the site.

The reimbursement would be paid through increases in property-tax revenue attributable to the development within the next five years.

Ignite cda records show the Lake Apartments living units would range in configuration from 500-square-foot studio units to 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom units.

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 1-acre project site currently is occupied by the 16-unit Shady Pines apartment complex, which would be razed for the project.

Three smaller apartment complexes are proposed in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood, south of Interstate 90, separate predevelopment applications on file with the city show.

Mark Masters, of Spokane, is proposing South Perry Development, a $3 million, 26-unit multifamily development at 1421 E. Hartson.

The project site is on the north side of Hartson on the hillside overlooking the Liberty Park area.

Fusion Architecture PLLC, of Liberty Lake, is designing the project.

The complex would have one-bedroom and two-bedroom units in three buildings, predevelopment information shows. 

The three-story buildings would have six, eight, and 12 living units. The six-unit and eight-unit apartment buildings would have parking on the lower level, and the project would have 16 additional parking stalls in three smaller garage structures on the property.

A few blocks west of the South Perry Development site, Solitude Properties LLC, of Spokane, is proposing Denver Street Lofts, a $1 million, 10-unit apartment building to be located at 618 S. Denver.

The apartment units would be on two floors with a total of 10,000 square feet of living space to be constructed over a 5,000-square-foot garage.

Studio Called Make LLC, of Spokane, is designing the project.

About six blocks west of there, Central Properties LLC, of Liberty Lake, is proposing to construct a $1.2 million, 12-unit apartment complex at 606 and 610 S. Scott.

The complex would consist of two three-level apartment buildings. 

Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on that project. Baker Construction also produced the site plans submitted with the predevelopment application.

The predevelopment applications for South Perry Development, Denver Street Lofts, and the Scott Street project all say construction is planned to begin this year.

In a previously reported multifamily development, Catholic Charities of Spokane in late September completed the purchase of a 33-acre portion of the Sisters of the Holy Names convent property at 2911 W. Fort George Wright Drive, where Catholic Charities and development partner Spokane-based Inland Group plan to develop a multiphase low-income housing project.