A group of northeast Spokane landowners is eyeing development of a mixed-use residential project with a total estimated value of roughly $50 million.


As currently envisioned, the development would include a 200-unit retirement complex, 200 multifamily living units, and 100 single-family homes on 60 acres of land south of Wellesley Avenue near the Beacon Hill Events Center, at 4848 E. Wellesley, says Pete Rayner, one of the landowners.


Rayner, who is working to move the project through the design and regulatory-approval process, says he and the other landowners met with the city staff in a predevelopment conference on the proposed development earlier this month and are beginning work on a site plan for the project. They plan to submit an application next spring for a planned-unit development on the property. The soonest work could start likely would be fall 2004, he says.


Any development on the land, however, is contingent on two issues: whether the city has sewer capacity to serve the development, and whether Wellesley can be realigned to serve that area better, Rayner says. Any glitches on either issue could delay the project, he says.


The 60-acre development site generally is northeast of Esmeralda Golf Course and Minnehaha Park. The land includes a 20-acre site owned by Jeff and Joy Hatch, of Spokane, that currently is home to an animal farm commonly known as the Hillyard zoo, Rayner says. Different types of exotic animals, such as camels and ostriches, are raised there, he says.


The planned retirement complex is envisioned for that site, and if the development were to move forward, the Hatches would move their farm to a more rural area, he says.


Through a partnership called Beacon Hill Properties, Rayner and Spokane financial planner David Baker own 40 acres of land adjacent to the farm to the southeast that would house the proposed multifamily complex and single-family housing.


In addition, Rayner and Baker own another 157 acres farther to the southeast that isnt part of the development thats under discussion now.


Rayner says Beacon Hill Properties envisions eventually developing the additional 157 acres, which is zoned in parts for single-family housing and in other parts for multifamily housing. As its currently zoned, that land could accommodate a mix of about 2,700 homes and multifamily units, but development of most of that land is many years away, he says.


Ill be an old, old man if I see it built out, says Rayner, who is 56 years old. I think my kids or somebody elses kids will live to see it through.


The Beacon Hill Events Center is on the northeast corner of the 157-acre property.


For the multifamily portion of the 60-acre project thats currently envisioned, Rayner says the landowners havent determined whether they would build condominiums, townhouses, apartment units, or some combination of those types of residences.


The single-family home part of the project likely would include homes that would range in price from $150,000 to $250,000.


Rayner and Baker have owned their 197 acres there since 1991 and developed Beacon Hill Events Center in the late 1990s.


Rayner and his daughter, Ellie Rayner, operate the events center through Grace Catering LLC.