The Dirt: New apartment building planned for Garland District

Plans for a new Millennium Northwest apartment building are nearing their finalization for Spokane’s Garland District, according to a company founder.

Millennium Northwest, a Spokane-based real estate development firm that is behind two new apartment buildings in north Spokane, is expecting to finalize plans for another project in the heart of the Garland District.

The company that previously developed Millennium Monroe, 2002 N. Monroe St., and North Hill Millennium, 3909 N. Wall St., will finalize plans with in the next few days for North Hill Millennium II, James Gallina, a founding member of the firm said last week.

“We have concluded our talks with the city during our predevelopment meetings,” Gallina said. “We have some minor changes regarding some rules for firefighters, where to put our dumpsters and some marketable things – but we should have those updated plans today or tomorrow.”

The new project is located immediately west of its predecessor on North Wall Street. The site comprises three residential lots north of the parking lot containing the Second Wind Espresso stand, at 726 W. Garland Ave., plans show.

The project will consist of four-, three- and two-bedroom townhome-style apartments that will be sold instead of leased.

With the opening of both the Millennium Northwest buildings and the District Lofts at Garland, located behind the Garland Theater at 951 W. Walton Ave., Gallina said the new project is meant to add density to the area, but not too much.

“I mean, the zoning there allows us to build a skyscraper if we wanted to,” he said. “We just love Garland. We love our neighbors and the feel of the neighborhood.

“So, we felt that if we went really high density, it might be too much, resulting in the area feeling too busy, too loud and with too many cars. We believe this is the right level of density to not overwhelm the neighborhood.”

The estimated $10 million project will consist of three, four-story buildings, totaling 18 units of housing. Each building will have a corresponding parking garage and rooftop deck.

Though some units will share exterior walls, each will be on their own separate property, plans show. This development strategy is called a unit-lot subdivision, which was made possible by new building codes passed in 2024 to incentivize such projects.

Gallina said the first North Hill Millennium project has no vacancies and maintains a waitlist of interested residents. Current residents include older and younger residents from varying levels of wealth, he said.

“It’s been incredibly well received,” he said. “We’ve got the full spread of demographics because people like the area. But, it has been a hard neighborhood to get into unless you wanted to buy.”

Gallina refered to the townhome-style of the new project as “the missing middle,” which he uses to describe the target market that might include new families or empty nesters who want to downsize.

He said the units are designed for anyone who wants to live near a bustling business district but also requires the storage of a car or two, he said.

Construction is anticipated to begin in 2027 and to continue for about one year, he said.

Gallina emphasized the development plans will not affect properties along Garland Avenue.

Shooting facility planned

An owner of Sharp Shooting Indoor Range & Gun Shop is looking to turn an adjacent auto repair shop into a law enforcement training facility, according to plans submitted to the city of Spokane.

Located behind the current gun range, at 1200 N. Freya Way., is Cheers Automotive, an auto repair shop that has operated at the location since 2011.

Jeremy Ball, president of Sharp Shooting, plans to turn the mechanic building and much of the parking lot into a training facility for law enforcement, according to plans.

Currently at the range, the firm offers courses for handgun and rifle marksmanship, gun safety, gun cleaning, emergency trauma care and gun safety.

Ball said Cheers Automotive is up for sale and has been wonderful to work with over the years. The sale will weigh heavily on the feasibility of the training facility.

“The project is very early on, and there are a lot of possibilities that could cause us to change direction or not move forward,” he said. “Their sale will have some bearing on the timeline of this and if we move forward on this or not.”

Ball said there were no more details he could to share at this time.

Plans were submitted as part of the predevelopment process, which gives developers the opportunity to garner feedback from city building officials before construction permits are sought.