Cedar Storage LLC, a subsidiary of Spokane-based construction and property management company Cedar Builders Inc., is developing a 45,000-square-foot storage and warehouse complex on vacant land at 3830 E. Olympic, in Spokane’s Hillyard neighborhood.

Four identical shell buildings of 11,250 square feet each will occupy the site by the end of 2023, says Scott Naccarato, operations manager at Cedar Builders Inc. and Cedar Property Management.

The property is located four blocks east of the North Spokane Corridor and one block north of Wellesley Avenue. Naccarato says the site is ideal for the company due to its proximity to Cedar Builder’s offices, which are at 907 E. Rosewood, about three miles northwest of the development site.

“It’s got good access to Bigelow Gulch, so you can get out to the Valley easy,” Nacarrato contends. “And you’re right there on the North Side. Once that north-south freeway corridor goes through, we’re right there.”

He says the project currently is in plan review, and the development will be constructed in two phases.

Naccarato declines to disclose an estimated construction value for the development.

The first phase will consist of laying groundwork, street improvements, and foundations throughout the the upcoming construction season. The company then will gauge tenant interest in leasing space at the warehouse complex.

The number of interested tenants will determine the amount of metal building packages Cedar Builders will purchase from manufacturers to begin the second phase.

A metal building package is a kit with prefabricated metal building materials that can be constructed on site.

The timing for the second phase will depend on the availability of the building packages.

“We’ll probably end up doing all the groundwork in the first phase this construction season and have it paved and ready to accept a building package by Thanksgiving this year,” he says.

Naccarato says the buildings likely will be constructed next year.

“We started out this property just for our own building, so we’re not in a hurry,” he says.

Naccarato says his company will use one storage building at the site to store materials used to maintain the apartments.

“We like to have a supply of all those things so when a tenant moves out and we have to fix something before the next tenant moves in, we have those items on hand.”

The storage complex will be a new type of business for the company to operate, says Naccarato.

Other business operations of Cedar Builders and Cedar Property Management involve the construction and management of apartment complexes in Spokane and Kootenai counties, he says.

Cedar Builders began its operations constructing apartment buildings in the 1970s, says Naccarato.

“We own and operate about 2,500 living units here in town under Cedar Property Management,” he says. “And Cedar Builders Inc. has built every one of those. We bought the land. We developed the land, and we built the apartments. Then we turned them over to the other part of the company, Cedar Property Management, and they manage.”

Chad McDonald, of Spokane-based Pro Builders General Contractors LLC, is the builder for the Cedar Storage development. Naccarato says the company decided to select a builder with experience constructing metal storage facilities.

Spokane-based Labar Architecture Inc. is the project architect.

The Spokane office of TD&H Engineering and Simpson Engineers Inc., of Spokane Valley, are providing engineering services, says Naccarato.