A company headed by prominent Spokane developer Dick Vandervert is building a $12 million, 192-unit apartment complex in Liberty Lake.


Site work for the project started last month at the southeast corner of Country Vista Drive and Henry Road, and footings are in place for the first building there, says Chris Collins, a project manager at Vandervert Construction Inc., of Spokane.


The company thats developing the complex, Country Vista Apartments LLC, plans to do the complex in two phases, Collins says. The first phase will include nine apartment buildings with a total of 108 living units. That phase also will include a small clubhouse and other common areas, including a gazebo for group events and an outdoor swimming pool.


The first few buildings in that phase are expected to come on line next summer.


The schedule for the second phase will be contingent on how quickly the first group of living units is leased up, Collins says. If the complex is well-received as anticipated, he says, work on the seven-building, 84-unit second phase of development could start as soon as the first group of buildings are finished late next year.


Apartment units in the complex will range in size from one-bedroom, one-bathroom units with 700 square feet of floor space to 1,500-square-foot townhouse units with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Rental rates likely will range from about $500 to about $1,125 a month, Collins says.


The project is located across Country Vista from the Liberty Lake Corporate Park, just west of Liberty Lake Road.


Russell C. Page Architects PS, of Spokane, designed the complex.


Vandervert-led companies also have developed the 132-unit Rock Springs apartment complex in Cheney and a 96-unit apartment complex in Walla Walla.


Meanwhile, Vandervert Construction has started site work on a $6 million expansion of a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlet, in College Place, Wash.


Tom Perko, a project manager at Vandervert, says the project involves adding 64,000 square feet of floor space to the store, which is located along Meadowbrook Boulevard and is the only Wal-Mart in the Walla Walla area.


The additional space will house grocery departments for Wal-Mart and will give the store a total of about 214,000 square feet of floor space, Perko says.


The project should be finished next July. The store will remain open during construction.