Spokane-based Garco Construction Inc. soon will start construction on a new building for Trinity Catholic School, in northwest Spokane.

The private school, now at 1306 W. Montgomery, will move to a nearby site on what is now the school’s current playground and have a new address of 2315 N. Cedar once the $4 million building is finished.

The new school will be built at the southwest corner at the intersection of Carlisle Avenue and Cedar Street.

Construction will start in May and is expected to be completed by the end of the year, says Garco architect Clay Conrad of the design-build project.

“I think it’s going to be a real positive improvement for the West Central area there,” Conrad says of the new school.

The original pre-development application submitted to the city of Spokane in July called for building a 26,700-square-foot school on Cedar, demolishing the current 19,200-square-foot school completely.

However, the scope of the project changed, and in November, Conrad sent a letter to Brian McGinn, the city’s hearing examiner, stating that the property owner had another proposal.

Plans now call for construction of a two-story, 22,000-square-foot building on the Cedar site and a 7,000-square-foot gym at the current school site on Montgomery Avenue.

“The overall proposed use would not change per the original conditional-use permit application, only the location and layout of the proposed campus buildings,” Conrad writes.

The reduced size of the new school building will create more separation between the neighborhood and students and offer more usable playground space for students, Conrad writes. Also, foot traffic across Cedar Street will be reduced because of more usable playground space on the new school site, he says. 

The new proposal incorporates a freestanding gym within a remaining southern portion of the existing school’s masonry shell, Conrad writes.

The remainder of the current school building would be demolished.

Spokane-based St. Anthony’s Catholic Parish owns and operates Trinity Catholic School, which teaches students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The school has an enrollment of about 255 students and employs 30 faculty and staff.