The Kalispel Tribe announced last Thursday the construction of a new hotel wing at Northern Quest in Spokane county will start in March 2021, to open in 2023.
Fish Weir-Inspired Wing To Feature Nearly 200 Rooms
The Kalispel Tribe of Indians said in November 19 news statement that it will start construction in March 2021 on a nearly 200 hotel room expansion to its Northern Quest Resort and Casino in Airway Heights in Washington State. The new wing is planned to open in 2023.
Five annexed buildings will compose the new wing, which will be oriented west next to the Northern Quest tower. More than 190 hotel rooms and suites will be added to the current 250 rooms of the Spokane resort, for a total of about 440 rooms in 2023. The expansion will be connected by a skywalk to the northwest of the Northern Quest rooms.
Although the new hotel rooms will have the same style as the current rooms, the wing’s architecture is inspired by the Native American fish weir, a fishing structure placed across rivers or in tidal waters. Fish weirs were also by tribal communities for celebration and trade gatherings.
The Kalispel Tribe’s plan also features the potential addition of a conference center of more than 30,000 square feet. Construction will depend on the demand for group meetings, gatherings, and events over the next few years.
The design-build team is composed of Spokane-based Lydig Construction and Inegrus Architecture, as well as Ankrom Moisan from Seattle. Other partners include Coffman Engineers, MW Engineers, Parametrix, and the Society.
New Jobs in Spokane Area
Building the new wing will temporarily provide Spokane and its area with hundreds of construction jobs, while the project will secure about 150 new permanent positions at Northern Quest.
According to the Tribe, the announcement was planned for earlier this year, but the Covid-19 pandemic led to delays.
Northern Quest General Manager Nick Pierre said in a statement that the business is looking towards the future, despite the struggles met during the pandemic.
“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.”
Nick Pierre, Northern Quest General Manager
Northern Quest is looking forward to completing the expansion and “brings [the operator] one step closer to realizing [its] vision of becoming the ultimate destination resort,” Mr. Pierre said.
The resort opened in 2000 and the Tribe broke ground on the original property in 2008. An RV Park and Salish Flats, a $26 million high-end apartment community, both adjacent to Northern Quest, opened last year.