City updated on housing development

Providing for senior housing needs is one part of plans by local developers for the land at the former Center Elementary School in Grand Coulee, who updated the city council on their project last week.

Centerline Development, owned by Nic Alexander and Ian Turner, purchased the former school located on 8.3 acres between Spokane Way and Martin Road in 2019 for $155,000.

The pair has planned to develop senior citizen living quarters at the former school, as well as single-family homes on the surrounding property.

At Grand Coulee's Nov. 23 council meeting, Alexander and Turner described some of the challenges of developing the property and the process of checking all the boxes necessary to make it happen.

Storm drainage on Spokane Way is just one challenge they are required to address, and they floated the idea to the council to supply the materials themselves if the city provides the labor to make that happen sometime in the future.

Turner told the council that they are anticipating developing about 30 single-family homes on the property before eventually focusing on senior citizen apartments at the former school.

He described the single-family units as being ideal for an "early retiree," with small yards that wouldn't require a large amount of upkeep.

Alexander said that work on the project was largely occurring "behind closed doors and computers at this point," as they work towards accomplishing their goals.

He said that they recognized senior living as "a huge niche in our community that was missing," and accentuated the benefits the project can bring to the area for senior citizens, being that the need for senior housing isn't being met currently. 

Alexander provided the example of the parents of their friends moving from the area for lack of housing that meets their needs.

A timeline for the project wasn't mentioned during the meeting.

Councilmember Tom Poplawski mentioned wanting school zone signs and the corresponding speed limits to be removed from that area.