Airdome Northwest LLC expects to complete its 40,000-square-foot air dome in Spokane’s Hillyard neighborhood next month, says Cantu Commercial Properties LLC founder Dan Cantu.

The air-inflated, climate-controlled structure, located at 3939 E. Joseph, is designed to provide a space for local sports teams and athletes to train year-round, regardless of weather.

Cantu and his wife, Melanie, own the approximately 1.3-acre site under their company Hillihu LLC. They own the business, Airdome Northwest LLC, with their sons Brandon and Connor, who will operate the facility.

As the Journal reported in May 2021, the facility was expected to open in September 2021, but Cantu says a combination of weather delays and other construction-related challenges forced the company to shut down the project for a while.

“We’re clipping along pretty good now,” Cantu says.

He declines to disclose a cost estimate for the project.

Washington State University and Whitworth University both have similar dome-like structures, but Cantu says he’s surprised there aren’t more facilities like this in the area.

“Being in the commercial real estate business, I’ve been approached by multiple coaches wanting to find a place that they could go inside during the bad weather,” Cantu says.

Airdome Northwest has about 35,000 square feet of turf area, which can be separated into six rentable bays of over 5,000 square feet to allow multiple teams or groups to use the facility simultaneously, Cantu says. The spaces are customizable, meaning teams can rent out more than one bay, up to the entire space.

One of the bays will have baseball and softball equipment, including four batting cages, pitching mounds, and soft-toss nets, all of which can be retracted. 

While the facility’s main purpose is to serve teams and athletes that play on grass or turf, Cantu says that Airdome Northwest can be rented out for other uses, including personal training sessions and nonsports-related events.

“I’ve had wrestling coaches call me up wanting to put on tournaments. We’ve talked about dodgeball. We’ve talked about having football camps and baseball camps during the summer,” Cantu says.

The facility will also include a conference room and bathrooms. Cantu says that there are tentatively about 125 parking spots planned for the facility.

St. Louis-based Arizon Building Systems manufactured the air dome.