A $3.5 million apartment complex planned in east Coeur d’Alene will target mid- to upper-income renters, which Coeur d’Alene real estate investor and broker Ben Widmyer says is an emerging market there.

The project, Lake Drive Apartments, will be located at 315 E. Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive, near the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course. 

The project, Lake Drive Apartments, will have 30 apartment units in four stories above street-level retail space, says Widmyer, president of Widmyer Corp., a Coeur d’Alene real estate development and company.

Widmyer also is the registered agent for Lake Drive LLC, the ownership group for the development, which includes Coeur d’Alene Resort general manager Bill Reagan.

Widmyer says the two-bedroom units will range in size from 900 to 1,100 square feet of living space.

He says he envisions a coffee shop in the commercial space, a portion of which will accommodate a drive-thru lane.

Widmyer anticipates construction will start as early as next month and be completed toward year-end.

Yost Gallagher Construction, of Spokane, will be the contractor on the project, and Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d’Alene, is designing it.

Widmyer contends there’s a growing market of retirees and young professionals who are willing to rent amenity-rich apartments rather than buy comparable condos and single-family homes.

Another example of such a project aimed at middle-income and upper-income residents is the similarly named Lake Apartments development, which is planned near the west end of the East Sherman Corridor, he says.

In that project, as recently reported by the Journal, CDA Mullan partners LLC, of Hamilton, Mont., plans to construct a $10 million, 47-unit apartment complex on a half-block of land on the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Mullan Avenue, near the Coeur d’Alene Public Library. Glenn Construction Co., also of Hamilton, is the contractor on the project, and Momentum Architecture Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, designed it.

The developer plans to start construction this year and to complete the project in 2018.