The city of Spokane has landed $5.2 million in state grants for Hillyard neighborhood projects that, together with other work planned there in the next two years, will bring to roughly $15 million the amount of investment being made in that northeast part of the city.

The grants, from the state Transportation Improvement Board, will pay for $2.7 million in streetscape improvements to Market Street in the Hillyard business district next spring and a planned $2.5 million widening project on Francis Avenue east of Market in 2011.

In addition to the streetscape project, a spate of work funded by a community development block grant, two local improvement districts, and the 10-year Spokane street bond all will occur on and around Market Street during the same three-month period next summer.

The two local improvement districts (LIDs) have been formed to pave side streets; the community development block grant will pay for a project to create a "gateway" to a planned bike and pedestrian path expected to be developed in conjunction with the state's North Spokane Corridor; the city street bond project will repave Market Street between Garland and Francis; and the city water department will pay to replace an aging water line and hookups there.

Additionally, the new $4.3 million Hillyard swimming pool is under way, and construction on a $5.5 million senior housing complex in Hillyard is expected to begin next spring, bringing the recent influx of public and private investment in the neighborhood to roughly $15 million, says Teri Stripes, program manager of the city of Spokane's Neighborhood Business Centers program.

In a related project, sidewalks on Queen Avenue between Haven and Greene streets will be replaced, and curb ramps will be added to the intersection of Queen and Market. That work is to be paid for with a community development block grant for $208,000, Stripes says.

Stripes says the Queen streetscape improvements will be intended to help create a gateway from Market to a bicycle and pedestrian path that the Washington state Department of Transportation plans to construct along with the north-south freeway project. That corridor will be located just east of Market.

A small "pocket park," with a defunct train car and a sign welcoming people to Hillyard, is located at the northeast corner of Market and Queen, and the new senior housing complex is to be constructed at the northwest corner of that intersection, she says.

Along Queen, Hillyard advocates have hoped for the project to include new curbs and sidewalks, antique style pedestrian lighting, and street trees, at a cost of about $400,000, so the Greater Hillyard Business Association is brainstorming ways to either scale back the project or to secure additional funding between now and next spring, Stripes says.

"That road going east-west is not an arterial, so it's hard to find funding," Stripes says. Still, no matter what the final project entails, it will be done around the same time as the city's Market Street rehabilitation project, she says.

In that project, Market will be reconstructed between Garland and Francis at a cost of about $3 million. During the 12- to 16-week project, the city also will replace the six-inch water main beneath it, as well as 30 aging water service connections to businesses along that stretch.

Meanwhile, one of the Transportation Improvement Board grants, for $2.7 million, will pay for sidewalks to be replaced on Market between Heroy and Columbia avenues during the city project, Stripes says. Curb ramps and pedestrian curb extensions will be added, and the grant also will pay for pedestrian lighting and street trees.

"The Market Street project is everything the neighborhood wants to do on Queen," she says.

The sidewalk work on both Queen and Market will take up to two months to complete. Stripes says Market will be closed during the project, and the businesses on Market still are discussing with the city possible detour routes.

To take advantage of the timing of the Market reconstruction, two local improvement districts have been formed to pave several dirt side streets in that area.

One LID has been formed to pave Rowan, Sanson, and Everett avenues east of Market, at a cost of about $350,000, says city spokeswoman Ann Deasy. Another has been formed to pave Wabash, between Market and Greene streets, at a cost of about $110,000, she says. That second project originally was rejected by property owners on Broad Avenue, but the city plans to ask those property owners again if they'd like to join the LID, Deasy says.

In a project anticipated to be constructed in 2011, the city plans to add a left turn-lane on Francis between Freya and Havana streets, and add sidewalks and bicycle lanes along that stretch. That project will be paid for in part with the other state grant, for $2.5 million.