Following another slow construction year in Kootenai County, some with ties to the industry are hopeful that public works and infrastructure projects will generate growth in construction activity in 2012 and further into the future.

Construction values in 2011 in unincorporated Kootenai County fell to $61.8 million—the lowest total in more than a decade. Construction values in Post Falls and Hayden also have fallen over the last several years, although Coeur d'Alene saw a slight uptick in values in 2011 due to increases in multifamily and commercial construction.

Projects valued at a combined total of more than $300 million, however, are planned or under way throughout the county.

"We're hoping some people with projects sitting on the sidelines will choose this year to get off the sidelines," says Tony Berns, executive director of Lake City Development Corp., Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency.

One project fueling high expectations for the west part of the county is the planned Beck Road-Interstate 90 interchange, in Post Falls, says Russell Cornell, building official for the city of Post Falls.

Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Co. (RLW), of Draper, Utah, has won a $21 million contract to design and build the interchange in west Post Falls.

The Beck Road interchange will be roughly halfway between the Pleasant View Road and State Line interchanges. It is to become the primary freeway access to the 200-acre Pointe at Post Falls commercial development on the west edge of Post Falls, where a Cabela's store opened in 2007 and a Walmart supercenter opened in 2010.

"Once the Point at Post Falls has access directly in and out, I believe we'll see more activity out there," Cornell says.

The interchange is on a fast track for construction, and the builder plans to complete it before Thanksgiving, he says.

The project will include a standard diamond interchange with exit ramps and onramps on each side of Interstate 90. It also will extend Beck Road south to connect to Riverbend Avenue, providing a direct link between the development north of I-90 and the Riverbend Commerce Park south of the freeway.

RLW and Chicago-based transportation engineering firm H.W. Lochner Inc., are designing the project. Construction is planned to start this spring and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

Foursquare Properties Inc., the Carlsbad, Calif.-based developer of the Pointe at Post Falls, says the interchange project is expected to help firm up commitments from retailers, restaurants, office users, and hotels to locate in the development.

On the other side of Post Falls, Under-Ground Force LLC, the young sister company of mining-support vehicle maker Ground Force Manufacturing LLC, is erecting a 72,000-square-foot manufacturing plant at 6055 E. Seltice Way. The plant will be next to a 10,000-square-foot shop building it bought there last year and also is renovating. The project is valued at $5.5 million, including the cost of new construction, land, renovations, and equipment.

Polin & Young Construction Inc., of Hayden, is the contractor on the project, which is expected to be completed this spring. UnderGround Force will manufacture service vehicles for the underground sector of the mining industry.

Also in Post Falls, prominent Idaho recreational vehicle dealer Blue Dog RV Inc. is constructing a $1.5 million service facility at its headquarters at 714 W. Seltice Way, north of I-90. Ginno Construction is erecting the 23,600-square-foot structure, and Rice Architecture LLC, of Hayden, designed it.

In the largest ongoing transportation project in Kootenai County, Scarsella Bros. Inc., of Kent, Wash., has won two contracts totaling $57 million that involve widening an 11-mile stretch of U.S. 95 north of Coeur d'Alene, between Ohio Match Road and Granite Hill.

The work involves reconstructing U.S. 95 to turn the two-lane portions of the road into a four-lane, divided highway. Scarsella Bros. also will construct new interchanges to eliminate the at-grade highway crossing at the intersections of U.S. 95 and state Route 54 in Athol and interchanges at Chilco and Bunco roads.

The work is scheduled to be completed in 2013. It's part of a broader, federally funded project to widen and improve safety on a 30-mile stretch of U.S. 95 between Hayden and Sagle.

In a multifaceted public works project on the south edge of Rathdrum, a consortium of three school districts is working on the Kootenai Technical Education Campus, which voters approved in 2010 with a $9.5 million budget.

Contractors Northwest Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, is the contractor on the project, which is on a 20-acre site at the southwest corner of Meyer and Lancaster roads. Longwell Trapp Architects PLLC, of Hayden, designed the project, which includes a 54,000-square-foot structure. The campus is scheduled to open for students in the fall.

KTEC, a professional technical high school, will be administered through the Lakeland, Post Falls, and Coeur d'Alene school districts. It will offer applied-skill learning, including hands-on instruction in manufacturing, construction, health care, welding, and automotive skills with options for dual enrollment and industrial certification.

The school was conceived through a partnership with business and industry leaders, the school districts, and area manufacturers in hopes of providing a local skilled workforce to fill manufacturing jobs and help attract industry.

Infrastructure work that's hoped to spur future development is planned this year in the education corridor in Coeur d'Alene, says LCDC's Berns. The work, which has an engineer's estimate of $1 million, will follow on the heels of a recently completed $3.6 million phase of the project.

The education corridor includes North Idaho College and satellite facilities for Moscow-based University of Idaho and Lewiston-based Lewis-Clark State College, all of which plan to expand a collaborative education environment there.

This year's work will be centered on River Avenue east of North Idaho College to Northwest Boulevard. It will include street construction and installing storm sewer lines, water lines, dry utilities, curbs, sidewalks, a traffic signal, lighting, and landscape trees and shrubs. Bids are due on the project this month.

MDM Construction Inc., of Hayden, was the contractor on the first phase of the project, which included constructing roadway, roundabouts, sidewalks, curbs, and a new signal at Hubbard and Northwest Boulevard, the northwest entry to the higher-education district.

The Coeur d'Alene office of Boise-based J-U-B Engineers Inc. will administer the project on behalf of LCDC.

Though the work is just a start of a much larger vision, it will prepare the corridor for future construction to serve the colleges when the economy improves, Berns says.

"It will provide better ingress and egress to the education corridor and formalize building pads for that area," he says, adding, "There isn't any money at the state level for institutions to build for a while."

The education corridor project was spurred by the 2008 closure of Portland-based Stimson Lumber Co.'s DeArmond Mill, located on 17 acres of land to the north of the North Idaho College campus.

Also within the education corridor, NIC is requesting that the city of Coeur d'Alene annex 8 acres of land just north of its campus on the east shore of the Spokane River for potential future multifamily development. The property currently is zoned in Kootenai County for commercial uses.

LCDC also has pledged a portion of financing for the proposed $17 million initial phase of converting Coeur d'Alene's McEuen Field into a multipurpose park at the base of Tubbs Hill, east of the Coeur d'Alene Resort. Miller-Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d'Alene, is designing the project with guidance from a city-appointed steering committee.

The 15-acre property currently includes public access to Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Tubbs Hill walking trails, heavily used baseball and softball fields, a major city parking lot, and a popular boat ramp. The boat ramp and the ball fields would be removed in the initial phase, though replacement sites for them would be secured first.

Other amenities planned in the initial phase include underground parking, reconstruction of Front Avenue between Second and Third streets, a grand plaza and pavilion, and a play area with splash pad.

The scope of the project and the proposed removal of the existing ball fields and boat ramp are points of contention that the City Council is reviewing for possible revision.

A new hotel is under way in northwest Coeur d'Alene where Spokane Valley-based kVc Development Inc., and Parkwood Business Properties, of Coeur d'Alene, are partners in a project that will feature a $15 million SpringHill Suites hotel.

The 118-room, four-story hotel will be built on 3.5 acres of land just east of the 101-room Holiday Inn Express that kVc Development's sister company, Spokane Valley-based Sterling Hospitality Management, opened in 2006 at 2300 W. Seltice Way.

Lindquist Architects PS, of Spokane Valley, designed the project, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 2013, although a contractor hasn't been selected for it yet, says Julie Brown, a kVc spokeswoman.

Just south of there, in the Riverstone commercial and residential community, a spate of six construction projects valued at $14.7 million is wrapping up with finishing work on two office buildings.

Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, is constructing and will own one of those structures, a $1.5 million, 10,000-square-foot building that will house FBI offices. Wolfe Architectural Group PS, of Spokane, designed it.

Riverstone Holdings LLC is completing work on the other structure, a $1 million-plus, 6,000-square-foot building that it will own and occupy along with the research and development arm of Pacinian Corp., a Spokane-based technology company.

Spokane-based SRM Development LLC, along with its Riverstone Center affiliates, is developing the 160-acre Riverstone development, located north of downtown Coeur d'Alene between Northwest Boulevard and the Spokane River.

John Stone, founder and former principal in SRM Development, retired from that company last year and formed Riverstone Holdings to concentrate solely on bringing the Riverstone development to completion. He estimates that the cost to complete the development in the next three years or so will add up to another $40 million to $50 million.

Also in north Coeur d'Alene, the Union Gospel Mission Association of Spokane is constructing a $6 million, 27,000-square-foot transitional housing and recovery-services center for women and children at 196 W. Haycraft about two blocks east of U.S. 95, in north Coeur d'Alene.

The main building in the complex will be a three-story, 19,000-square-foot main structure that will include 10 family bedrooms, 18 single-bed rooms, a childcare center, classrooms, a medical clinic, a kitchen, and a chapel. Other structures will include a 3,500-square-foot rescue center with six beds and a large dayroom, and a 4,400-square-foot warehouse and auxiliary-services building.

Leone & Keeble Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project, which is scheduled to be completed this summer, and Architects West Inc., of Coeur d'Alene designed it.

Housing

Residential construction and development company Active West Builders LLC, of Coeur d'Alene, is developing the second phase of the environmentally focused Meadow Ranch subdivision in north Coeur d'Alene. That phase will include 30 single-family homes with prices starting at $200,000, for a total value of more than $6 million.

The development, which is located on 12 acres of land just west of a retail center anchored by a Fred Meyer Stores Inc. outlet, is marketed as an active adult community for people aged 55 and older.

On the south edge of Rathdrum, Windermere Coeur d'Alene Realty Inc. is developing the first phase of a 157-lot residential subdivision. Homes in the initial 63-lot phase are being marketed toward entry-level buyers, with prices starting at $129,000, putting the total value of the initial phase at more than $8 million.

Homes range in size from 1,000 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet.

In one of the largest multifamily projects under way in the county, Riverview Ventures LLC has launched the first of at least two phases in a planned 203-unit apartment complex north of Seltice Way. Rudeen Development LLC, of Liberty Lake, is the contractor on the project.

The initial phase, which has a construction value of $3.2 million, includes two three-story apartment structures, one with 24 units and the other with 16 units.

The overall project, with an estimated construction value of $18 million, would have 12 apartment buildings, a 3,600-square-foot recreation facility, and parking for 527 vehicles, plans show.

Storhaug Engineering Inc., of Spokane, is the project engineer, and Milbrandt Architects Inc., of Bellevue, designed it.

A long-planned $9.1 million workforce housing project in Coeur d'Alene's Midtown district might get off the ground this year if it receives approval for housing tax credits from the Idaho Housing Finance Association, Berns says.

LCDC has pledged $547,000 toward the project, which would include 45 low-income rental units at 811 and 823 N. Fourth in the Midtown urban renewal district north of downtown Coeur d'Alene.

The project, which would be developed by The Housing Corp., an Idaho nonprofit, would include a four-story structure with 9,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, and studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom living units on the second through fourth floors.

Miller Stauffer Architects designed the project. A contractor hasn't been selected for it yet.

In west Post Falls, Coldwell, Idaho-based Community Development Inc. is developing the $3.5 million Silver Creek II senior apartments next to the recently completed initial phase of Silver Creek apartments, at 3720 Tayjan Lane.

Bellingham, Wash.-based Ebenal General Inc. is the contractor on the three-story, 40-unit apartment building, which is scheduled to be completed in December, and Hutchison-Smith Architects PA, of Boise, designed it.

Upscale living

The city of Harrison has annexed 2,000 acres of land on which Thousand Palms, Calif.-based Powderhorn Ranch LLC proposes to develop 1,300 luxury homes and three golf courses under a 12-year development agreement on the southeast shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Other uses that would be allowed under the agreement include retail centers, hotels, and equestrian areas.

Powderhorn Ranch hasn't disclosed the total value of the development, but it would be larger in scope than the $100 million-plus Gozzer Ranch Golf & Lake Club Inc. golf community that Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Discovery Land Co. is developing near Arrow Point on the east shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene. The master plan for that 700-acre community includes 350 homes ranging in size from cottages to estate homes.

Gozzer Ranch's holdings also include Gozzer Landing, formerly Squaw Bay Resort, where Discovery Land is proposing to develop a $30 million-plus, 15-unit condominium project in which each unit is to be individually owned and placed in a rental pool for at least half the year.

That proposal was approved by Kootenai County commissioners in August, but was appealed to Idaho's 1st District Court, which sent the proposal back to the commissioners to conduct a second public hearing to address the project's previously revoked site-disturbance permit. That hearing was to be held this month.