The Dirt: Apartment units planned for north Spokane

A roughly 1.5-acre property may soon be packed with 13 buildings, each three stories tall in north Spokane. The structures will include a total of 78 apartment units.

“We tried to maximize space as much as we could,” said Gabe Taylor, co-owner of Copper River Homes, a general contractor who owns the property.

When the company purchased the property, at 1911 E. Lyons Ave., about a year ago, it contained a few small homes.

“They’re gone now,” Taylor said. “We had homeless folks try and live in them everyday, so we knew it was time to get rid of them.”

Taylor decided to capitalize on the city’s Building Opportunity and Choices for All program, which allows buildings with up to six units to be constructed on a typical single-family lot.

All floors of each building will have the same layout. The front units of the project, closest to Lyons Avenue, will consist of three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Each back unit will have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, Taylor said.

Some neighborhoods often object to similar projects because they prefer their neighborhood to consist of single-family homes, he said. But he believes this will not be the case with the Lyons project.

“This is not necessarily a nice neighborhood,” he said. “And those kinds of places don’t get a lot of pushback.”

The project has been certified to receive a multifamily tax exemption by the city, Taylor said.

Greater tax exemptions are applied to projects that offer more low-income and affordable housing, but the Lyonns project is certified because it is located in an economically distressed area, according to city records.

He estimates the project would cost about $10 million “unless someone else wants to jump in,” he said.

Because each building is separately plotted, it opens the possibility that someone else would buy one, a few, or all of them.

Ten million dollars “is not a lot of money to some investors,” he said. “Ideally, an investor will want to buy the lots from us and I’ll build them because I’m a contractor – that’s what I do.”

The roughly 600 feet of Lyons Avenue in front of the property is unpaved. Taylor estimates crews will add road, sewer and water by the end of May.

If all goes according to plan, the first building may be completed in about a year. The last building is estimated to be completed in 2½ years, according to Taylor.

Housing planned for Whitman neighborhood

The Vets on North Lacey is a project spearheaded by Catholic Charities Eastern Washington, a Spokane nonprofit.

Located at 6208 N. Lacey St., the project consists of four one-story buildings totaling 12 bedrooms, according to documents submitted to the city.

The homes will be oriented in a circle surrounded a courtyard and garden beds, site plans show.

The estimated cost of the project is $2.1 million.

The organization expects to break ground Sept. 1, project documents show.

Spokane-based ZBA Architecture designed the project.

Lots planned near former golf courseA property containing about 125 acres near the former Sun Dance Golf Course has been proposed by developers to be separated into around 530 residential lots, according to plans submitted to the city.

Nine separate properties make up the site that spans about a mile and a half-long stretch of land just west of North Nine Mile Road.

All properties are owned by Volkman Living Trust, according to county records.

Developers have not submitted official development plans. Instead, the project is in a review period when city officials and developers meet to ensure the plans are feasible.

According to documents submitted to the city, Whipple Consulting Engineers are working on the project.