Catholic Charities Spokane, one of the area's largest social-service nonprofits, plans to begin work this month on an $8 million low-income housing project downtown, next to its House of Charity homeless men's shelter.

The nonprofit will construct a four-story, 51-unit housing complex at 108 S. State, on a parcel of land where a 13,000-square-foot warehouse building currently sits, says Monique Kolonko, Catholic Charities' associate director for seniors and housing.

Kolonko says demolition of that warehouse—which Spokane County Assessor records show to have been constructed in 1907—is planned to begin shortly, with construction of the new building to follow.

Plans are to have the housing facility open to tenants by this time next year, she says.

Spokane-based Garco Construction Inc. is the project's general contractor, and Heylman Martin Architects, also of Spokane, designed it, she says.

Catholic Charities purchased the red-brick building, located directly south of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad viaduct, earlier this year through a company it owns called Valor Haven LLC. The Spokane County assessor's website shows that the property was sold for around $360,000 and its former owner was Evergreen Parking LLC, of Spokane.

Kolonko says that Mark McLees, an agent with the Spokane commercial real estate firm NAI Black, handled the sale on behalf of Catholic Charities.

The planned apartment complex will offer permanent housing to chronically homeless men and women, Kolonko says. The House of Charity homeless men's shelter next to where the apartment complex will be developed is at 32 W. Pacific.

"We chose the location to trade services back and forth between the House of Charity," she says. "We expect a lot of tenants will come from the House of Charity—those who are ready to make a change and try a new way of living."

Tenants of the new complex, which has yet to be named, will be able to use Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program vouchers and other federally-funded low-income housing vouchers, Kolonko says.

Units will be a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments, each of which will have about 950 square feet of space, she says.

Kolonko adds that the facility will follow what's called a service-enriched housing model, meaning that a social services coordinator will have an office in the building and will help connect its tenants with services in the community and within Catholic Charities' network.

Funding for the project comes from the Washington state Housing Trust Fund, administered by the state Department of Commerce, and private investors, Kolonko says.

Catholic Charities has envisioned building a housing complex of this nature for about 10 years, she says. The nonprofit currently doesn't operate any similar facilities that offer permanent housing to chronically homeless persons of any age, she says. It does, though, own some permanent low-income facilities that provide housing for families and seniors.

The only criteria for tenants at the new facility is that they're over age 18, she adds.