SANDPOINT — Averill Hospitality’s 56 Bridge Street hotel took a step forward before the new year, with the company's submittal of a building permit to the city.

Sandpoint City Planner Bill Dean said the permit was submitted Dec. 29 and the company now has 180 days to pay an invoice to the city for staff to begin reviewing the permit. Dean said permits for similar projects have taken around three weeks to be approved once review begins, but the timeline could be prolonged if the city needs a resubmittal and further review. 

“I’ll be looking at this very closely to make sure it’s consistent with all the prior approvals,” Dean said.  

Local representative for Averill Hospitality Ben McGrann said the permit was hundreds of pages long with design, construction, plumbing and architectural drawings included. The only significant changes made to the hotel’s design from the original renderings is a “softening” of the building’s edges, McGrann said. 

"The original submittal had a very angular building that kind of looked like a very sharp E,” McGrann said. “We’ve softened the edges to improve view corridors for not only the public, but also the visitors that will be staying there. It kind of opens it up a bit into a soft U or W shape.” 

All the original setbacks from Averill’s conditional use permit were maintained, McGrann said. Dean said Averill was in constant communication with Pete Skon, the city’s building official, during the design process. 

Submitting the permits before Jan. 1 locked in the prior and significantly lower 2025 development impact fees for the project. At a City Council meeting in August, McGrann said the project was “simply unviable” due to the council’s decision to increase the impact fees, nearly doubling the fees related to the hotel. 

"It’s a very intensive process to get to this point, but we were able to hit that milestone and stay under the 2025 fee schedule, which was our goal,” McGrann said.  

In July, McGrann told the Daily Bee that if all went well, Averill was aiming for a summer 2028 opening of the hotel. McGrann confirmed that the submission of the permits keeps the company on track for a 2028 grand opening. 

McGrann said the company is continuing to work through things with the community and city regarding the City Beach RV Park. He said the decision made about the RV park land will have bearing on how the project progresses but said he couldn’t say how it could change the hotel. 

“We continue to want to partner with the residents, the community and the city to make this the best outcome for everybody,” McGrann said. “We still have things to work through as it relates to the City Beach RV Park and making sure, we are developing something commensurate with the hotel and what is desired as City Beach.” 

The findings from the public survey and workshop that were conducted by the city in December will be presented and discussed at the Parks and Recreation Commission’s Jan. 14 meeting.  

Community Planning and Development Director Jason Welker said he hopes the commission will come up with several options for the City Council at that meeting.