Alvin J. Wolff Inc., of Spokane, has begun work on an $11.6 million expansion of its 186-unit Big Trout Lodge apartment complex at Liberty Lake. It expects to complete the project, which will nearly double the size of the complex, within a year.


Work is under way on four buildings with a total of 87 units there, and the company hopes to submit plans to Spokane County soon for an additional five apartment buildings with 82 units, says Peter Wolff, owner of Seattle-based Wolff Planning Group, which designed the apartment complex and its expansions. Each phase of expansion will cost about $5.8 million to construct, says Wolff, who is the son of Alvin J. Fritz Wolff Jr., who heads The Wolff Companies, which owns Alvin J. Wolff Inc.


The first batch of new apartment buildings, which are expected to be completed in early spring, is being constructed along Mission Avenue, northwest of the current 11-building complex and east of the Liberty Lake Town Center shopping center.


Inland Construction Co., of Spokane, is the general contractor on the project.


On the second group of new apartment buildings, Alvin J. Wolff Inc. hopes to break ground in February and wrap up construction late next summer. Those buildings will be built just north of a clubhouse that serves the apartment complex and west of the apartment buildings currently under construction.


The new apartment buildings at Big Trout Lodge will be similar in design to the current buildings in the complex, Wolff says. The apartments will range in size from one-bedroom units with 690 square feet of living space to 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom units.


Wolff says two more phases of apartment-building development are planned for Big Trout Lodge, but the company hasnt set timelines for those projects yet or decided how many units will be built.


Alvin J. Wolff Inc. will consider expanding the complexs recreational facilities as part of those future project phases, Wolff says. If it expands those facilities, it likely will add a second swimming pool or build tennis courts, he says.


Alvin J. Wolff Inc., which owns and operates about 2,800 apartment units in several complexes, completed work on and began renting out units at Big Trout Lodge last spring.