The city of Spokane Valley has awarded Mooney & Pugh Contractors Inc., of Spokane, a $7.5 million contract to build the CenterPlace Community Center at Mirabeau Point Park.


Mooney & Pugh project manager Jerry Potter says nine other construction companies also bid on the project, which architects estimated would cost about $8 million.


Construction of the 54,000-square-foot building began last week and should be completed in June 2005, he says.


The two-story brick structure will be located at 2426 N. Discovery Place, across the street from the Spokane Valley YMCA.


Tan Moore Architects PC, of Spokane, in association with Madsen Mitchell Evenson & Conrad PLLC, of Spokane, designed the project.


CenterPlace will include a 5,400-square-foot banquet room, a covered drive-up area, a kitchen, classrooms, computer lab, lecture auditorium, and meeting rooms. It also will include a 1,000-square-foot greenhouse, attached to the south wing of the building, and nearly 400 parking spaces on the 12 acres of property being developed there.


The Spokane Valley Senior Center, at 11423 E. Mission, will move there once the building is completed, and Spokane Community College also will use a portion of the building for classes, Potter says.


The city of Spokane Valley will own and operate CenterPlace, which will be part of a development that also includes the 10.5-acre Mirabeau Meadows Park and Mirabeau Springs.


Mirabeau Point, the broader park development, is a 48-acre woodland and meadow area along the Spokane River that encompasses Mirabeau Meadows to the north and east, Pinecroft Conservancy to the west, and Mirabeau Natural Area to the south.


Efforts to develop Mirabeau Point into a community area for recreational, educational, and cultural activities began in 1995. Mirabeau Point Inc., a nonprofit corporation governed by a volunteer board of trustees, has directed the development of park trails, roads, sidewalks, curbing, and a railroad crossing.