Coming off a year in which projects valued at well over $1 billion were issued building permits throughout Spokane County, 2017 is looking to be a strong construction year.

A sampling of larger Spokane-area projects underway and planned this year totals more than $450 million.

Construction is expected to start this year on a pair of major developments near both landings of the soon-to-be-built University District Gateway Bridge that potentially could approach $100 million in value.

The north landing of the 450-foot long, 120-foot-high city landmark bridge will be just east of the planned $45 million, 300,000-square-foot development proposed by Jensen Byrd Development LLC.

The south landing will be near a pedestrian-plaza extension of Sherman Street on the north side of Sprague Avenue, adjacent to the Catalyst Project, a separately planned private development, the scope of which could match the Jensen Byrd plans.

Jensen Byrd Development proposes to renovate the historic six-story Jensen-Byrd warehouse structure into 74,200 square feet of high-tech office space and 40,000 square feet of main floor retail and office space.

The development plans include constructing a new, 83,000-square-foot office building between the former Jensen-Byrd Building and the bridge landing.

Plans also include a 55,000-squre-foot fitness center with an additional 3,300 square feet of retail space.

Jensen Byrd Development is working on a ground lease for the development area with Washington State University, which owns it.

The developers have purchased outright the former Pacific Fruit & Produce building at the southeast corner of Main Avenue and Pine Street, which they plan to convert into a 9,200-square-foot restaurant and entertainment venue.

Jensen Byrd Development will begin construction on some phase of the development this year, spokeswoman Kim Pearman-Gillman said last month.

Spokane-based Lydig Construction Inc. will be the contractor, and Wolfe Architectural Group PS, also of Spokane, is designing it.

The development arm of Spokane-based energy company Avista Corp. is leading the Catalyst Project and has entered into the city’s planning process for a proposed mixed-use development on 5 acres of land on the north side of the 500 and 600 blocks of east Sprague Avenue.

The initial phase will include a 140,000-square-foot office, lab, and education building with six above-ground stories and a basement. A similar-sized building is planned as a later phase.

Avista’s long-term vision for the Catalyst Project includes at least two other multistory buildings along the north side of Sprague.

Avista hasn’t named a contractor for the development. Bernardo|Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, is designing it.

Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, is scheduled to begin site work this month on the $15.4 million University District Gateway Bridge project, which will span Martin Luther King Jr. Way and the BNSF Railway Co. tracks.

The bridge was designed by a consulting team that included KPFF Consulting Engineers, of Seattle; MW Consulting Engineers, of Spokane; SPVV Landscape Architects, of Spokane; Northwest Dynamics Inc., of Coeur d’Alene; Taylor Engineering Inc., which is now the Spokane office of Parametrix Inc.; and the Spokane offices of GeoEngineers Inc. and LMN Architects.

It’s expected to be completed in 2018.

Beyond the University District, prominent Spokane-based general contractor Vandervert Construction Inc. has multiple restaurant, office, retail, residential, and hotel projects under construction throughout the Inland Northwest, says Andrea Frye, Vandervert’s business development manager.

The company, which will move its headquarters downtown this year from its longtime North Side location, entered 2017 with a portfolio of $51 million in projects already under contract for the year, Frye says.

Vandervert Construction is the contractor for the $8 million My Fresh Market independent grocery store at the northwest corner of Monroe Street and Summit Parkway, in the Kendall Yards mixed-use development northwest of downtown.

Shoesmith Cox Architects PLLC, of Seattle, designed the 26,000-square-foot facility, which is scheduled to open in the spring.

Among several other projects in the works in Kendall Yards, Liberty Lake -based developer Greenstone Corp. plans this year to launch its biggest project so far in the 78-acre urban village, says Jim Frank, Greenstone CEO.

Frank says Greenstone plans to start in coming months a $50 million phase of construction at 1001 W. Summit Parkway, overlooking the Spokane River gorge.

The as-yet unnamed project will include more than 200,000 square feet of office, retail, and residential space in two buildings to be constructed on top of a single-story parking garage, he says.

One building will be a four-story office structure. The other building will have six stories with street-level retail space facing Summit and resident amenities on the rest of the first floor. A total of 130 apartment units will be constructed on the second through sixth floors, Frank says.

Greenstone hasn’t named a contractor for the project yet, but hopes to begin construction on the garage this year, followed by office, retail, and residential construction in next year and tenant occupancy in 2019, he says.

Shoesmith Cox and Bernardo|Wills are designing the project.

Health care

Site preparation is under way for the $34 million psychiatric hospital that Spokane-based Providence Health Care will operate with Fairfax Behavioral Health, of Kirkland, at the former site of the Fifth & Browne Medical Building, at 104 W. Fifth.

Bouten Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project, and Spokane-based NAC Architecture is designing it.

The project, which includes construction of a three-story, 65,000-square-foot hospital building, is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2018.

Separately, Spokane-based Frontier Behavioral Health Services is constructing a $4.2 million, 15,000-square-foot outpatient facility at the southwest corner of Sprague Avenue and Lee Street.

Bouten Construction is the contractor on the project, which is expected to be completed in the fall, and NAC Architecture designed it.

In another field of health care, a $14 million renovation is under way at Providence St. Joseph Care Center, at 17 E. Eighth on the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children’s Hospital campus. The project will renovate the two-story, 52,000-square-foot, 162-bed skilled-nursing facility, which specializes in providing long-term and short-term physical rehabilitation.

Graham Construction & Management Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project, which is scheduled to be completed in early 2018, and Seattle-based MG2 Corp. designed it.

Casino construction 

Two competing casino projects will be constructed this year in Airway Heights.

The Spokane Tribe of Indians has started construction on the $40 million first phase of its casino project, which it expects to open in the fall.

The tribe’s casino-development initiative, dubbed the Spokane Tribe Economic Project, is envisioned as a $400 million, multiphase development on 145 acres of land along U.S. 2, near Craig Road, on the west edge of Airway Heights.

San Francisco-based Swinton Builders is the general contractor on the 30,000-square-foot first-phase STEP project, which will include a casino, retail space, a tribal cultural center, a parking facility, and a fire and police station.

Within 10 years, the STEP development also will include a Hard Rock Hotel, a spa, entertainment venues, restaurants, and bars, the tribe has said.

Also in Airway Heights, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians recently announced its plans for a $20 million, 40,000-square-foot expansion at the Northern Quest Resort & Casino.

The family-friendly addition, which will be connected to the current south side of the casino on the corner of Hayford Road and Northern Quest Boulevard, will include an adult-supervised arcade, an indoor gym, and entertainment space for children.

The expansion also will include a high-end recreational vehicle park.

The design team for the project consists of Parametrix and ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane.

Construction is scheduled to start this spring, with the first phase to be completed in about a year.

To the east, the city of Spokane Valley is seeing a boost in construction activity thanks in part to an influx of big school construction projects and apartment developments, John Hohman, Spokane Valley’s community development director, has said.

Such projects include the $21.6 million Evergreen Middle School renovation and expansion under construction with Garco Construction Inc. as the contractor and ALSC Architects as the design firm. They also include the $17.9 million Granite Pointe III apartment complex, which is being developed by A&A Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane Valley.

Hohman says the Spokane Valley city government hopes to move into its new $14.1 million City Hall building by late summer.

Meridian Construction Inc., of Spokane, is erecting the City Hall, which will have three stories and a basement, at 10201 E. Sprague, at the former University City Mall complex.

Architects West Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, designed the 65,200-square-foot building.

The city government currently occupies about 30,000 square feet of leased space at the Redwood Plaza, about a mile east of the University City site.

South Hill retail

Two big retail centers are proposed on the upper South Hill.

QueenB Radio Inc. hopes to break ground this spring on a center, tentatively named the KXLY South Complex, on 17 acres of land known as the KXLY site on the west side of south Regal Street, west of the Regal Plaza shopping center and adjacent to the Southeast Sports Complex.

The KXLY South Complex is envisioned with seven commercial structures with a total of 180,550 square feet of retail space and a completed value of $40 million.

A 48,000-square-foot grocery store fronting Regal at the southeast corner of the retail center will anchor the first phase of the complex.

Bernardo|Wills Architects is the architect on the project, and Yost Gallagher Construction, of Spokane, has been named the contractor for it.

Spokane restaurateur and real estate developer Cyrus Vaughn, doing business as Vaughns 57th Avenue LLC, hopes to break ground this spring on the other planned South Hill shopping center, which is named Commons on Regal.

The development site is on 9 acres of land formerly occupied by South Regal Lumber Yard Inc., at 5415 S. Regal.

Preliminary plans for the $12 million retail center include two 5,000-square-foot drive-thru restaurants, which would be constructed at the southeast corner of Regal and 53rd Avenue and at the northeast corner of Regal and 55th Avenue.

Two 8,700-square-foot retail buildings are planned between the corner restaurants and farther back from Regal. Second-phase plans include a 29,500-square-foot grocery store and four 4,100-square-foot retail or office buildings.

Vaughn has said he’s leaning toward acting as his own contractor. Spokane firms Nystrom+Olson Architecture, and Russell C. Page Architects PS, have had early roles in the development design.

Spokane developer Ron Wells is seeking what could be the final pieces of the financial puzzle needed to purchase key parts of the Ridpath Hotel complex so he can proceed with long-proposed plans to redevelop hotel rooms in 10 stories of the 13-story tower at 515 W. Sprague into the Ridpath Club Apartments.

Wells’ company, Ron Wells Group LLC, is developing the top two floors separately as luxury condominiums.

The $20 million Ridpath Club Apartments project will include 200 mostly low-income apartment units.

Spokane-based development company Centennial Properties Inc. also is working on a handful of redevelopment projects downtown, the largest of which is a renovation of the former Macy’s building, at the northeast corner of Main Avenue and Wall Street.

An affiliate of Centennial Properties bought the structure in July for $7.5 million and since has obtained a number of building permits for renovation, demolition, and remodeling work valued at more than $23 million.

The building, which is renamed The M, has 10 above-ground stories and a basement with a total of 374,000 square feet of floor space, says Doug Yost, director of real estate investments for Centennial Properties. The company is constructing retail space on the first two floors of the building, 107 apartment units on the top eight floors, and some underground parking in the basement, Yost says.

Walker Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the project, and Spokane-based NAC Architecture designed it. Yost says The M project will be completed by early summer 2018, although some retail tenants might open earlier.

Centennial Properties is a subsidiary of Cowles Co., which owns the Journal of Business.

East of the University District, construction could start as early as next month on the $12 million Iron Bridge IV project, says Iron Bridge LLC managing partner Kent Hull.

Hull says Iron Bridge also hopes to start work later this year summer on the $10 million Iron Bridge V project.

Divcon Inc., of Spokane Valley, is the contractor on the Iron Bridge IV project and likely will be the contractor on Iron Bridge V, Hull says. Ron Joseph Architecture, of Spokane, designed both projects.

The city of Spokane plans to spend $238 million on capital improvement projects in 2017, says Jonathan Mallahan, director of neighborhood and business services.

In one infrastructure project, the city has issued a $12 million building permit for work in 2017, which is the second year of an ongoing $125 million filtration system project at the Riverside Park Water Reclamation Facility, at 4410 N. Aubrey L. White Parkway.

Broomfield, Colo.-based MWH Constructors and its affiliate Slayden Construction Group Inc. are serving jointly as the general contractor and construction manager on the project.

The first Riverfront Park improvement projects funded under the $64.3 million parks bond measure approved by voters in 2014 are underway.

They include the $7 million Howard Street south bridge replacement, the $6.7 million recreational ice rink and sky ride operations facility, and the $6.2 million Looff Carousel facility.

T. LaRiviere Equipment & Excavation Inc., of Athol, is the contractor on the bridge project, and Berger Partnership PS, of Seattle, designed it.

Contractors Northwest Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, is the contractor on the ice rink and sky ride office project, which the Spokane office of Stantec Inc. designed.

Walker Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on the carousel facility project, which NAC Architecture designed.