Diamond Rock Construction, of Spokane Valley, plans to start a project this month to build a 248-unit apartment complex called The Homestead, located north of Central Valley High School.

The Homestead LLC is the developer and owner of nearly 12 acres of land at 15720 E. Fourth, where plans call for a complex of five apartment buildings, each with roughly 25,000 square feet of floor space.

The Homestead is designed to offer one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, says Dennis Crapo, president of Diamond Rock Construction, which has a building permit request in with the city of Spokane Valley.

"We plan to start as soon as we get the permits," Crapo says, adding that could be within the next two weeks. He declines to disclose the project's estimated value.

A value for the project isn't currently listed on permit paperwork filed with the city of Spokane Valley, says Mike Turbak, city permit specialist.

Crapo says the apartment complex, which is planned just east Sullivan, is designed by Spokane Valley-based Whipple Consulting Engineers Inc. to include a 3,000-square-foot clubhouse with a pool. He says the complex boundaries stretch east to the Shelley Lake Reflections housing area. The Reflections, west of Conklin, is the western portion of a gated community called Shelley Lake Estates, which has 248 homes.

Crapo says that The Homestead construction is expected to take about 10 to 12 months to complete.

At the end of last year, several Shelley Lake Estates residents objected to an earlier plan by Crapo to build 41 townhomes on a 3.8-acre parcel at the site.

Spokane Valley hearing examiner Mike Dempsey ruled that Crapo, as the developer, had to comply with a development agreement that he negotiated with Spokane Valley in 2009 that requires new housing construction in the eastern portion to be set back 40 feet from the east property line. It also called for 10 percent of the gross area of the development zoned multifamily residential to be set aside as open space.

In 2010, Diamond Rock Construction completed the building of Appleway Terrace Apartments, a 66-unit complex at 10108 E. Appleway Blvd. The company also builds single-family homes, both as custom projects and as part of property housing developments, its website says.