Apartments big part of new housing near Pines, I-90

Since developers and the city struck a deal to pay for upgrades to revamp the Interstate 90-Pines Road interchange next year, work has been brisk on nearly 700 new apartments and houses, which will fill most of the empty land left in the area just north of the freeway.

“Your location is just perfect, close to I-90; you can’t beat it,” said Shannon Zehner, manger at the new River Rock apartment complex on Shannon Avenue.

“Rentals are fantastic,” she said. Last week, 21 people moved in, and the complex has been averaging 10 to 13 new rentals each week.

Rents at the first phase of the project, expected to be completed this month, range from $595 for a one-bedroom apartment to $950 for a three-bed, two-bath apartment with 1,200 square feet of floor space.

Just north on Pines, new apartments at another large complex have been designated as affordable housing. The units range from a 620-foot, one-bedroom apartment at $525 to a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment with more than 1,000 square feet at $735.

Income restrictions apply to those living there. For example, if one person is renting an apartment, he or she must make $22,920 per year or less to live there. For a family of four the ceiling is $32,760.

The units completed so far are almost completely full, said Scott Scelfo of Pinehurst Development LLC. The rest should be completed by the end of the year.

Within a half-mile of the new apartments, plans for the View Ranch Estates show 63 new single-family lots on previously vacant land.

The new construction will add more residents to a neighborhood that already isone of the most densely populated parts of the city. A rough count of mailboxes in the areas zoned for multifamily housing on both sides of Pines north of the Interstate showed about 1,300 apartments, not including the new construction, duplexes or mobile homes.

Occupancy rates at the Pine Bluff apartments near the Parkside complex have been in the upper 90 percent in the three years Kathy Barnes has managed them, she said, and she doesn’t think the new apartments will affect that.

“I really think that it’s been pretty steady all along,” she said.

College students from Gonzaga University like the area because it’s easy to get to school on I-90, said Barnes.

Zehner also sees students from Gonzaga and as far as Eastern Washington University. Other renters work in or near the mall or in Idaho or recently moved here from other states, she said.

Countywide there were about 39,000 apartments in buildings containing three or more units in 2005, according to a report issued by the Real Estate Research Committee. About 60 percent of those were in the city of Spokane, and about 21 percent – just over 8,300 – were in the Valley.

Countywide, 2000 Census data indicate that rental units make up about 35 percent of the housing stock in Spokane County, according to the same report.

For people who support families with wages that are at or near minimum wage, any addition to the number of low or moderately priced rental properties is welcome, said Robin Waller of Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs.

“Right now it’s difficult to find any affordable rental property,” she said, adding that she expects the new apartments in Spokane Valley will fill quickly.

But even with high consumer demand and vacant land in abundance compared to the city of Spokane, new building is still constrained by the capacity of Spokane Valley’s roads. New residential projects along Pines Road will result in even more traffic fighting through overloaded intersections at Mansfield, Marietta and the interstate.

In April a traffic count showed an average of 17,700 daily vehicle trips on Pines north of Montgomery, said city spokeswoman Carolbelle Branch.

A traffic study from the River Rock project show it will add about 2,500 daily trips from the apartments when both phases are completed. A study for the Parkside project shows that it will add about 2,000 trips.

Before the city would give them building permits, nine residential and commercial developers had to put $550,000 toward a $4.5 million road project slated to begin next year. It will remove one light on Pines from a reconfigured freeway interchange and install two more at Mansfield and Mirabeau Parkway.

Plans for the second phase of River Rock show a road eventually connecting Mansfield to the south part of Mirabeau Parkway. A new section of Cherry Street was built next to Parkside, which the traffic study says eventually will connect to the existing Cherry Street to the south when land between the two is developed.

Officials of the East Valley School District are still trying to gauge what effect the new apartments and houses will have on nearby schools.

“We’ve tried to anticipate that for a long time,” said Jan Beauchamp, assistant superintendent for academics.

“It’s difficult to know if their children will be preschool or school age or if some empty nesters are moving in,” Beauchamp said.