Viking Construction Inc., of Hayden, has started work on a $6 million, 72-unit first phase of a planned 208-unit apartment complex in North Idaho, says Scott Krajack, Viking’s director of development.

The project site is near the northeast corner of Syringa Street and Poleline Avenue in the Fieldstone master-planned neighborhood in north Post Falls.

“We’ve started construction on the site, and we’re doing sewer and water first,” Krajack says.

Krajack says the complex, tentatively named Fieldstone Apartments, will have market-rate rental units with one to three bedrooms that will range in living space from 700 square feet to 1,200 square feet.

He expects units will be ready to lease next August.

The current construction phase includes three 24-unit, three-story buildings, a clubhouse, and a swimming pool, he says.

He anticipates a second 72-unit phase will be constructed in about two years, and the final 64-unit phase will be constructed about two years after the second phase.

A Viking affiliate, NuVu Property Management LLC, of Hayden, will handle apartment leasing.

The apartment complex will sit on one of the last parcels in the 320-acre Fieldstone community to be developed.

The master-planned community is approved for 1,120 living units, Krajack says. So far, about 800 single-family homes and 32 duplex units have been constructed in Fieldstone, he says.

Wyatt Architects & Associates PS, of Spokane Valley, designed the project, and Whipple Consulting Engineers Inc., also of Spokane Valley, is the civil engineer.

The complex will be the third apartment development for the prominent North Idaho homebuilder, although Krajack says single-family home construction is still Viking’s main business.

“We built 300-plus homes this year,” he says, adding however, “As we buy property, we’ll do multifamily construction when it makes sense.”

Viking constructed the 70-unit Fairway Meadows Apartments, in Coeur d’Alene, last year, and the company developed the 66-unit Greensferry Landing Apartments, in Post Falls, in 2008.

Monthly rents range from $800 to $1,300 for units in the Fairway Meadows Apartments complex, and from $650 to $825 for units in the Greensferry Landing Apartments complex, according to NuVu’s website.