Two California real estate investors say they plan to build a $16 million office-and-hotel complex atop Sunset Hill in West Spokane.


The investors, Jack Branagh and Gaylon Patterson, both of Oakland, have hired WAM Enterprises Inc., of Spokane, to develop a two-story, 40,000-square-foot office building and a four-story, 125-room Holiday Inn hotel on a nearly 14-acre site at the southwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Windsor Drive. The site is just east of Group Health Cooperatives West Spokane administrative offices and is visible from the Spokane International Airport exit off of U.S. 2, Branagh says.


We have great expectations for this park, in large part because of its proximity to the airport and downtown, he says.


Bruce Miller, WAM Enterprises vice president, says the Spokane company hasnt filed for building permits for the project yet, but hopes to break ground on both buildings toward the end of this month. As currently planned, both buildings would be completed next September.


Miller says some excess vacant land at the site that might be used for additional development later.


This is a pretty good-sized deal, Miller says. Spokane needs a good shot in the arm like this.


Panco Construction Inc., of Spokane, will be the general contractor in the construction of both buildings, and Architectural Ventures, of Spokane, designed the two structures.


The $11 million hotel will be constructed along Windsor, set back from Sunset Boulevard but visible from U.S. 2, Miller says. In addition to guest rooms, the hotel will include a restaurant and bar, a conference area, and exercise facilities. Bramer & Associates, a Grand Junction, Colo.-based hotelier, will operate the new hotel.


The planned $5 million office building will front on Sunset Boulevard, and Miller says it will offer upscale, or Class A, office space.


The office structure is being built speculatively, meaning that the owners havent secured tenants yet, Miller says.


Branagh says he and Patterson plan to form a single-asset partnership or limited-liability company to own the office-hotel complex, but havent decided on a name for that venture yet.


The two investors own, through other partnerships and limited-liability companies, about 10 office properties in the Spokane area, including the 90,000-square-foot Group Health complex located near their new project, Branagh says.


He says that over the years, WAM Enterprises has developed a total of about 300,000 square feet of commercial and multifamily residential space for him and Patterson in various projects in the Pacific Northwest.


In their most recent transaction here, Branagh and Patterson sold one of their Spokane-area holdings, the Argonne West I & II office complex in the Spokane Valley, for $5.3 million to James F. Cotter, of San Antonio, Texas.