A development company plans to begin construction this spring on a 298-unit apartment complex overlooking the Spokane River in the University District.

Newly dubbed The District, the development originally was named the Riverbend Apartments in preliminary documents that estimated the construction value at $45 million.

The new apartment complex will flank the Hamilton Street James E. Keefe Bridge, just south of the Spokane River, between 955 and 1185 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Phoenix-based development company Sagamore Spokane LLC has obtained permits for the project, which includes four apartment buildings on 13 acres of land. The permits were approved by the city of Spokane after a prospective purchaser consent decree was reached by the Washington state Department of Ecology and the state Attorney General’s Office and was approved in a Spokane County Superior Court order.

The decree will help guide the redevelopment of the site, which had been contaminated by past industrial uses. The site previously was occupied by the Spokane Manufactured Gas Plant and American Tar Co., according to information about the project on the state Department of Ecology’s website.

The development team intends to break ground on the first phase of the project in April. Jeremiah Shakespeare, market leader with Swinerton Builders in Spokane, the contractor on the project, says the project is slated to take about 22 months to build.

Spokane-based ALSC Architects PS designed the project, while Construction Management & Development Inc. has been acting as the owner representative.

Permit applications show the first phase of the project includes two apartment buildings totaling 124 living units. Each structure will be four stories tall. Those documents list the construction value for the first phase of the project at $16.1 million.

Phase one encompasses the two buildings closest to the river on the north side of the property, one on each side of the Hamilton bridge. The second phase is expected to finish out the project with two apartment buildings on the southern side of the property, one on each side of the bridge as well, site plans show.

Landscaping plans include a play area for children, a water feature, walking paths, and community spaces between the buildings.

Sagamore Spokane purchased the 13-acre property in January for $3.54 million, according to Spokane County Assessor’s Office records.