Hearthstone Homes plans rental homes in west Spokane neighborhood

The first four houses of a planned 16-rental-home development are under construction in a neighborhood just off the Fish Lake Trail in west Spokane, where the Grandview-Thorpe and Latah-Hangman neighborhoods meet.

Hearthstone Homes, which is owned by husband and wife Matt and Shannon Pool, is building the three-bedroom houses on Nettleton Lane, south of 16th Avenue. The homes will each have an attached garage and covered entry, according to documents filed with the city. Two of the houses will have two stories; the other two will be one-story ranchers.

Matt Pool, a real estate agent, said the idea for a 16-lot development of rentals came about five years ago, when he and his wife were coming up with “retirement plans.”

“I call them tiny houses – tiny compared to what I used to build,” said Pool, noting the homes range from 1,200 to 1,600 square feet. “They’re two-and-a-half minutes to downtown and right on the Fish Lake Trail. We have to put a pedestrian path to the Fish Lake Trail, which I think is super cool. You can ride your bike to work or whatever.”

The four proposed homes have different designs, and their names follow suit: Ponderosa, Aspen, Cedar and Fir. One side of Nettleton will feature ranchers, the other side will have two-story homes.

City documents value the two-story houses at about $190,000 and the ranchers at more than $160,000. Pool said he hopes to rent the houses for between $1,600 and $1,800 a month.

“They’re all three-bedroom, two-bath, with a two-car garage. And they’re all maintenance-free,” he said. “It’s pretty unique. I figure millennials and older people will like them.”

Financing for the project is through Gesa Credit Union. – N.D.

Playfair to gain $2.5M warehouse, office building

A new 60,000-square-foot industrial building is coming to east Spokane, as the Playfair Commerce Park continues its unabated development.

The $2.5 million Playfair 9 building will be 40 feet tall and serve as an office and warehouse site, according to city permit data. The quick build-out of the park has gone nearly unimpeded since the it was established in 2010. Earlier this year, the $3.5 million Playfair 10 warehouse was built, adding 75,000 square feet to the park, which saw brisk leasing of the park’s other five buildings.

The east Spokane commerce park is the former Playfair Race Course horse track that has been converted to 58 acres of land zoned heavy industrial near the core of Spokane. The park is within a community empowerment zone, which allows the deferral of sales tax for manufacturing construction.

Larry Stone, the president of Spokane-based SCAFCO Corp. and LB Stone Properties, bought 48 acres of the former Playfair property from the city in 2009. In 2010, he started building new roads, upgraded power and water services, added landscaping and sidewalks, and also buried underground fiber-optic lines for voice and data.

Additionally, a new arterial route on Altamont Street and Ferry Avenue opened last summer. The road swings under a Union Pacific Railroad underpass on Altamont and turns east to eventually connect with Freya Street and at a traffic light at Alki Avenue.

The new warehouse is being built by Playfair Commerce Park LLC, which is owned by LB Stone Properties. The contractor is Divcon Inc., of Spokane Valley, which has built the park’s other buildings as well as those on the nearby 23-acre Iron Bridge campus just north of Trent Avenue in the Chief Garry Park neighborhood.

The architect for the Playfair warehouse is Architectural Ventures, which has an office in Spokane Valley. – N.D.

Two office, warehouse buildings under construction in Liberty Lake

Construction is underway for the first of two flex office and warehouse buildings in Liberty Lake.

Andrew Hanan of Liberty Lake-based Rudeen Development LLC filed permits with the city to build a 17,562-square-foot commercial building at 24201 E. Knox Lane.

The Knox II Commercial building is slated for completion later this year. Phase two of the project calls for construction of a more than 10,000-square-foot building in mid-2019.

The development design will tie in with the surrounding businesses, Rudeen Management and Mario & Sons, according to plans filed with the city.

The land was purchased for $360,000 by Knox Lane II LLC in 2017. – A.E.