Infrastructure is in place for the first phase in the Mead Works development, and lots are staked for housing starts.

“We’ll be opening the project for marketing sometime around the first of May,” says Jim Frank, CEO of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp. “Construction starts on houses will be ongoing during 2025 and going forward.”

The first phase includes about 150 units in a mix of single-family homes, small cottage homes, townhouses, and some small multifamily units, Frank says.

Greenstone is designing all of the housing products, he says.

Model homes posted on the Mead Works online conceptual master plan range from a two-bedroom rancher with 900 square feet priced at $449,000 to a two-story, five-bedroom home with 3,600 square feet priced at $756,000.

Frank says, however, home prices aren’t set.

“We’re trying to do a wider range of housing opportunities for people,” he says, adding that the intent is to supply what’s called middle housing for first-time homebuyers and empty nesters.

“In the market today, we do have to build smaller houses and more townhouse product,” he says.

The 300 plus-acre Mead Works site is located east of the Costco Wholesale Corp. store at 12020 N. Newport Highway.

Mead Works is envisioned as a $1 billion development with 1,400 residential units and 1 million square feet of commercial space that will be constructed over 20 years.

Frank says the residential unit numbers may grow beyond the initial development agreement with Spokane County.

“I believe the project will densify some,” he says. “It’s possible over time those numbers will grow, because we’re trying to achieve higher densities.”

The Journal last reported on Mead Works last July, as infrastructure work was underway.

“We put about $10 million just in roads, sewer, and water infrastructure,” Frank says. “Two water districts are involved in providing backbone infrastructure for the entire project.”

The infrastructure work includes street landscaping and a pedestrian-and-bicycle path.

“The main bicycle and pedestrian route is constructed,” Frank says, adding that Mead Work’s main arterial—Mellon Parkway—has a separated bike and pedestrian facility that runs from Farwell Road on the north edge of Mead Works to the south property line and eventually will be extended to Hawthorne Road.

Frank says an elaborate pedestrian and bicycle network will be extended throughout the entire development. “No matter where you live in Mead Works, you will be able to take a sidewalk to a pathway to a primary bikeway,” he says. “It’s all intended to provide access to services or to transit.”

Frank says the second phase of construction will have two components.

One component will be an age-restricted product called Trutina at Mead Works.

“Trutina will ultimately include 300 to 500 housing units,” he says.

The 55-plus community will consist of a mix of single-level homes, townhomes, and elevator-served apartments, he says.

The second component will be a town center consisting of a walkable retail, restaurant, and shopping district.

The town center will be located near the heart of the development, within easy walking distance from almost all homes in Mead Works, he says.

Also included in the town center will be some community recreational and gathering facilities.

“We’re still working on building designs and details,” Frank says. “The intention is to be something like the business district in Kendall Yards.”

While Mead Works will be several times larger than the Greenstone-developed Kendall Yards urban village northwest of downtown Spokane, Frank says it’s not the biggest development he’s been involved in.

“All the work we’ve done in Liberty Lake is much larger,” he says.

For example, the 1,700-home MeadowWood subdivision spans 900 acres, and the River District development takes up 600 acres.

Across the state line, over 700 acres in the Coeur d’Alene Place Development in northwest Coeur d’Alene has been developed over a span of 20 years, he says.

Greenstone affiliate Mead Works Development LLC acquired the property in 2022 for $3 million.

The development site formerly was owned by Kaiser Aluminum Investments Co. and is north of the long-defunct Kaiser Aluminum smelter, which was known as the Mead Works plant. The land historically served as a buffer between industrial uses and residential uses.

Two health care providers have invested recently in land adjacent to Mead Works.

As the Journal reported in August 2023, Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System, which has a prominent Inland Northwest presence, purchased 30 acres of land at 12115 N. Mellon Parkway, north of the Costco store. MultiCare has said it plans future health care development at the site upon completion of the North Spokane Corridor.

More recently, Shriner’s Hospital for Children purchased 8 acres of land flanked by the Costco and MultiCare properties.