Riverview Retirement Community is planning a new $42 million independent-living facility at its 35-acre campus along Upriver Drive and the Spokane River.

Construction of the four-story, 82-unit building, to be located at 1841 E. Upriver Drive, is expected to begin in spring 2026 and to be completed about two years later. The project is currently in the design phase.

The Heights, as it will be called, is expected to help accommodate a growing need for senior living in the Spokane area.

“We’re building in response to the fact that there’s current demand, but there’s also pretty significant expected demand in the Spokane area over the next decade,” says Danie Monaghan, CEO of the nearly 70-year-old retirement community.

The increase in demand is due in part to a rapidly-aging U.S. population, as all living baby boomers—the generation born between 1946 and 1964—will have all reached the age of 65 by 2030.

The roughly 155,000-square-foot facility being planned at Riverview will also help accommodate growing demand for larger independent-living spaces, Monaghan says.

Preliminary plans call for a mix of one-bedroom units with dens, two-bedroom units, and two-bedroom units with dens. Monaghan estimates that units at The Heights will range in size from about 1,100 square feet to 1,800 square feet.

Riverview also offers independent living through its 163 Village Homes and at its Terrace Apartments facility. The 131-unit Terrace facility consists of a mix of independent- and assisted-living units.

Also on Riverview’s campus is the Veranda facility, which has 20 memory-care units that can serve 35 individuals.

The Heights will be located between the Terrace facility and Riverview's fitness and aquatics center, which includes a resistance pool, lap pool, therapy pool, hot tub, indoor walking track, and exercise studio. Covered walkways will connect the three buildings, as well as the Veranda facility, which sits just north of the Terrace Apartments.

The main floor of The Heights will feature a restaurant, a bistro, and a bar, as well as a 200-seat auditorium.

“The main floor will be just really big community spaces: a business office, meetings areas, lounges, different places for families and residents to get together and hang out,” says Lisa Egger, director of sales and marketing at Riverview.

The auditorium and other amenities will be accessible to all Riverview residents, Egger says.

Monaghan adds, “We’ve really tried to be incredibly mindful in what we’re placing in this building to make sure that it does support the greater campus.”

Additional parking will be included in the construction of The Heights, although Monaghan says those details are still being worked out.

The Heights will be built in place of the Riverview Care Center, a skilled-nursing facility that closed down several years ago and has since been used for extra storage and office space.

“When COVID hit, there was a decision made to shut down ... the care center,” Monaghan says. “As we looked at our community from a campus planning standpoint, we realized that the building itself had outlived its usable life.”

The 2-story care center will be demolished to make way for The Heights.

The decision to eliminate the skilled nursing facility was also made in response to changing needs in Spokane.

“The state of Washington is kind of going away from the skilled nursing model, and we’re trying to provide more support in people’s homes,” Monaghan says.

An outpatient therapy office will be located at The Heights, and will include physical, occupational, and speech therapy services.

Riverview also recently launched RiverCare, which includes home health, home care, and home hospice services.

“It was designed to help support people who move into The Heights to stay independent in their homes for longer with us,” Monaghan says.

The Heights is being designed using feedback from Riverview residents and the retirement community’s roughly 180 employees. The name of the new facility was decided on by a community vote, says Monaghan.

Spokane-based Bouten Construction Co. is the contractor for The Heights project. Bellevue, Washington-based Wattenbarger Architecture Inc. PS is the project architect, and the Spokane office of Seattle-based DCI Engineers is the civil engineer.

Spokane Valley-based Budinger & Associates Inc., Spokane-based Duryea & Associates PS, and Spokane-based PLACE Landscape Architecture LLC are also involved in the project.

Issaquah, Washington-based Marathon Development Inc. is the project developer.

With over 300 total living units, Riverview ranks second on the Journal’s most recent Largest Retirement Homes list.