Owners of the South Hill Senior Living complex, also known as the Cooper-George Building, at 707 W. Fifth, are contemplating a $7 million makeover of the building, a pre-development application on file with the city of Spokane shows.

Representatives of South Hill Senior Living weren’t immediately available for comment.

South Hill Holding Co., of Spokane, owns the building. Sapphire at South Hill LLC, an affiliate of Sapphire Health Services, of Portland, Ore., operates South Hill Senior Living.

Dennis Veeder, of Spokane, and Kevin Ricker, of Portland, co-own the related companies.

The pre-development application says the improvements to tenant spaces would include new flooring, paint, fixtures, doors, windows, kitchens, and bathrooms.

Predevelopment is an optional preliminary step that enables the city and the applicant to begin the joint planning process for a project.

The project also would remodel common space with improvements to include new flooring, potential wall demolition, and exterior painting, the application shows. 

The project also would update the building’s plumbing, electrical, and mechanical systems.

Spokane-based contractor Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, submitted the application and is listed in city documents as the project consultant.

South Hill Senior Living has 143 apartment units, according to information the company submitted last September for the Journal’s annual list of largest retirement homes. 

Of those, 55 units are independent-living apartments, and 88 are assisted-living units.

Monthly rents for independent-living units currently range from $600 to $1,000 and monthly rents for assisted-living units range from $2,150 to $2,900.

The 13-story building was constructed in 1952 as Spokane’s first senior apartment community.

The Cooper-George building had gone through several ownership changes since the 1970s and had been in accelerating decline, when South Hill Holding Co. bought the building in 2012 for $3.7 million and invested another $1.2 million in improvements in its first year of operation.

Spokane County Assessor’s Office records list the most recent taxable value of the longtime senior living building at $4.6 million.

The building retains the Cooper-George signage high on its north face.