Spokane Baptist Association Homes plans in November to launch a $10 million renovation of the 13-story Lilac Plaza low-income senior apartment tower on the North Side.

Tucked in a residential neighborhood a few blocks north of Francis Avenue and east of Division Street, the facility at 7007 N. Wiscomb is due to receive a makeover of all 174 living units and common areas, as well as an update of electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, says Chris Venne, development finance manager of Community Frameworks who is overseeing financing of the project.

"This is a holistic look at the building and what will give it another 30 years of life," Venne says.

Spokane Baptist Association Homes CEO Glen Pierce says the tower—among the tallest buildings on the North Side—was constructed in 1972 and hasn't received any significant improvements since 1997.

The Lilac Plaza project is the latest in a handful of large senior living construction projects. In all, at least $85 million worth of retirement-facility construction projects either are planned or under way.

The renovation project comes four years after construction of Lilac Terrace, a 50-unit structure north of and connected to the tower. All of the living units in the two buildings, collectively called the Lilac Plaza Retirement Community, are for independent-living seniors who are at least 62 years old and who have income that's at most 60 percent of Spokane County's median income. All but about 10 of the units in the complex are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and some of them are designated for people at 50 percent and at 30 percent of median income.

HUD currently defines a two-person household with annual income of $25,200 as being at 50 percent of median income in Spokane County.

Kop Construction Inc., of Spokane, and ZBA Architecture PS, worked as the contractor and architect, respectively, on the Lilac Terrace project and have been hired to handle the Lilac Plaza improvements as well.

Pierce says Lilac Plaza is 92 percent occupied, and he plans to keep about 15 living units vacant at all times during construction, so that residents can move temporarily while their apartments are being remodeled. He says the facility has hired a relocation coordinator to help residents during construction.

The remodeling project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014, Pierce says.

Venne says the project is being funded through Low Income Housing Tax Credits, through which a private investor funds the project—on this project, the investor is RBCC Capital Management, of Cleveland—and receives the tax credits on the project.

Some solar panels are being installed on the tower's roof as part of the project, making it eligible for energy-efficiency tax credits as well, Venne says.

Operating low-income housing here since the early 1970s, Spokane Baptist Association Homes also operates Holman Gardens, a 96-unit apartment complex at 12912 E. 12th, in Spokane Valley.

Of the other retirement-related construction projects, the largest by far is the $51 million construction of the 14-level Summit tower at Rockwood Retirement Communities' South Hill campus, operated by Spokane United Methodist Homes and located at 2903 E. 25th. Slated to be open to residents by the summer of 2015, the Summit will include 65 living units and two levels of underground parking, in addition to common areas. Walker Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on that project, and a Pittsburgh-based architect designed it.

Also on the South Hill, work is well under way on a $20 million senior housing complex called Clare View, which is located at 3146 E. 44th and is being developed by Spokane Housing Ventures. The first living units in that five-building, 61-unit complex are expected to come on line this fall. Whitewater Creek Inc., of Hayden, is the contractor on the project, and ZBA Architecture designed it.

Spokane United Methodist Homes also is constructing a $4 million, 24-unit Appleway Court II low-income senior apartment project just southeast of the Appleway Avenue-Farr Road intersection. Due to be ready for residents to move into next year, Appleway Court II has many of the same players as the Lilac Plaza renovation. Community Frameworks put the financing together, and Kop Construction and ZBA Architecture are the contractor and architect.