Kalispel Tribe announces Northern Quest Resort & Casino expansion

The Kalispel Tribe plans to break ground next year on an expansion project at Northern Quest Resort & Casino that includes a new hotel wing with nearly 200 rooms.

In an announcement Monday, the Kalispel Tribe said the new structure will be built west of Northern Quest’s existing hotel tower. A skywalk will connect the current tower’s northwest side to the new addition.

“While 2020 has been a difficult year for the hospitality industry, we continue to weather the storm and look toward to the future,” Nick Pierre, Northern Quest general manager, said in a statement. “For the past several years, we’ve been running at consistently high occupancy in our hotel and while meetings and events business has taken a big hit in the past eight months, we are confident things will bounce back in the coming months and years, returning us to the kind of demand we were seeing in 2019 and early 2020.”

The new structure will span more than 160,000 square feet and include five connected buildings inspired by the concept of a Native American fish weir. The hotel rooms will be similar in style to Northern Quest’s existing accommodations, according to a news release.

The expansion project will bring Northern Quest’s total number of hotel rooms to 440 and create more than 150 jobs , the release said.

Because architectural drawings and interior design finishing choices have not yet been finalized, the Kalispel Tribe is unable to provide an estimate of the project’s cost, Northern Quest spokeswoman Julie Holland said in an email.

The Kalispel Tribe plans to break ground on the hotel expansion project in March, with completion slated for early 2023.

The Kalispel Tribe’s master plan for Northern Quest includes a potential addition of a 30,000-square-foot conference center, depending on future demand for groups and meetings, the release said.

The Kalispel Tribe was planning to reveal the hotel expansion project in March, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the announcement.

“Since the Kalispel Tribe opened Northern Quest in 2000, we have had a history of making calculated investment decisions when others are putting projects on hold,” said Phil Haugen, Kalispel Tribal Economic Authority chief operating officer. “We broke ground on the original Northern Quest hotel in 2008, during the largest recession this country has seen in recent years. We are proud to say that project proved to be a huge success for the Tribe.

“The hotel became the foundation for continued resort expansion, creating world-class entertainment options for the Spokane region.”

The Kalispel Tribe hired Spokane-based Lydig Construction, Integrus Architecture, which has an office in Spokane, and Ankrom Moisan, of Seattle, to design and build the project.

The hotel expansion is the latest development at Northern Quest Resort & Casino.

Last year, the Kalispel Tribe opened a luxury RV resort with cottages adjacent to Northern Quest Resort & Casino, in addition to Salish Flats, a $26 million apartment community.