Developers of the long-stalled Best Western Peppertree Inn & Suites project at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and Division Street say they expect to resume construction of the $9 million structure this month, after having secured a substantial portion of the financing they need to complete the project.

Rita Santillanes, who is codeveloping the project with her husband, John, says the couple has obtained two loans totaling $4 million that will enable them to secure other financing and restart the five-story, 115-room hotel project.

Santillanes says she expects construction to start back up before the month is out.

"We need to have it framed before the snow flies," Santillanes says. "Then we will be able to work through the winter." She says she expects the project to be completed in nine months.

The Santillaneses halted work on the project last winter, saying their bank had withdrawn financing for it. That left the foundation pit, surrounding mounds of dirt, and a growing infestation of weeds exposed to motorists' views and the sidewalk partially blocked by a chain-link fence at the busy corner just north of the Division Street-Interstate 90 interchange, on a major gateway to downtown.

Dan Skindzier, the city's inspector supervisor, says he's heard from the contractor, EA White Construction Co., of Tualatin, Ore., that the project is expected to resume soon.

Skindzier says the contractor has requested renewal of the sidewalk-closure permit in the construction area, although he adds that a less costly option might encourage the contractor to reopen the sidewalk.

"There is some expense to renewing the permit," he says. "It seems more cost effective to erect a fence in the pit area inside the sidewalk."

Dale Sweeney Designs PLLC, of Bellevue, Wash., designed the project.

Santillanes says she and her husband obtained new financing in the form of two $2 million Small Business Administration-backed loans through the Northwest Business Development Association (NWBDA). With that funding in hand, further financing from commercial lenders will be more readily available, she says.

The NWBDA is a Spokane-based nonprofit development corporation that handles loans under the Small Business Administration's job retention program.

Santillanes says the scope of the project, which is to include a connected parking structure, hasn't changed while the project has been stalled.

The couple bought the property, which is the former site of St. John's Lutheran Church and a Subway restaurant building, in July 2007. They had hoped to open a hotel there this year, but just as they were about to begin the project, it was delayed over questions of whether the church was eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Three months later, the couple obtained a permit and razed the church, but by then the recession had deepened, and their original bank financing fell through, despite strong business at their other hotel properties, she says.

The couple also own Best Western Peppertree Inns at Spokane International Airport and in Liberty Lake, Yakima, and Auburn, Wash.