Catholic Charities of Spokane, a prominent social-service nonprofit here, is renovating the Delaney Apartments, one of its largest residential holdings downtown, says Glori Houston, the charity's housing director.

The $3.5 million construction project includes accessibility and system improvements to the interior of the century-old, 83-unit building, which is located at 242 W. Riverside, within the East Downtown Historic District, and also will include some historic restoration of the structure's exterior, Houston says.

The construction arm of Spokane Valley apartment development company Inland Group LLC is the contractor on the project, and Nystrom+Olson Inc., of Spokane, designed it.

Work includes expanding and updating bathrooms to make the living units compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The project also includes replacing the windows, flooring, and major kitchen appliances.

"We're completely updating the units, and we're also updating common areas and offices," Houston says.

The project also will upgrade the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system, she says.

The historic-preservation part of the project will be a small part of the total work, Houston says. It will be aimed at making the exterior of the building appear more like the original structure for possible listing on local and national historic registers, she says.

"The entrance will be moved and the front will be modified to look like it did in 1912," Houston says. "The windows will be more energy efficient, but they will look much the same as the original windows."

The project is scheduled to be completed in late spring, she says.

The Delaney, which Catholic Charities has owned for 40 years, provides subsidized housing for low-income seniors, Houston says. The structure has eight stories and a basement, comprising a total of 54,500 square feet of floor space.

Catholic Charities Spokane operates 14 apartment buildings in Eastern Washington, including seven apartment communities with a total of 496 units in Spokane that provide low-income housing for seniors, people with disabilities, families, and single parents with children. The Delaney building is one of Catholic Charities' largest apartment buildings, along with the 150-unit Cathedral Plaza Apartments, at 1120 W. Sprague, and The O'Malley, a 99-unit apartment complex at 707 E. Mission.

The Spokane City-County Historic Preservation Office website says the Delaney building was designed by Albert Held for Spokane Realty Co. During its history, it has been an annex of the City Hall and once housed the Spokane Police Department. KREM-TV was based in the building when the station began broadcasting in 1947, until the station moved its operations to the Moran Prairie.