Construction is to start by May on a $2.2 million church in the Latah Valley area for St. John's Lutheran Church, which formerly was located at Third Avenue and Division Street in downtown Spokane.

The new church, to be located on 8 acres at 5810 S. Meadow Lane Road, will include a sanctuary, fellowship hall, and four classrooms, says David Eash, president of the congregation.

The church will have 14,000 square feet of floor space. The classrooms will be used for a preschool and primary grade school, and the school facility could be expanded in the future, he says.

Laborers for Christ, the development arm of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is the contractor on the project, and Madsen Mitchell Evenson & Conrad PLLC, of Spokane, designed it. The project is expected to be completed by year-end, Eash says.

He says the church facilities will be available for community activities.

The congregation's former church property was sold to Spokane-area hoteliers John and Rita Santillanes, who plan to build a 115-room Best Western Peppertree Inn there.