NORTH BEND – The city’s newest apartment complex will likely break ground this summer, more than a year after its scheduled start.

According to Bob Ketterlin, director of acquisitions for the project’s developer Seattle-based A.F. Evans, the start of the complex was delayed due to the timing of filing financing paperwork with the city.

“By the time we got [the paperwork] done last year, it was kind of late. We didn’t want to start work in the middle of winter,” said Ketterlin.

In the interim, he said, A.F. Evans has secured new financing for the project that better fits the long-term needs of the company.

The 258-unit Snoqualmie Valley Apartments is to be located on 16 acres on Southeast North Bend Way.

The master site plan for the $21.7-million apartment complex was approved by the City Council in August of 2002. At the time it was estimated ground would be broken in February of 2003 with all of the complex’s units built within 14 months.

Ketterlin said the plans for the complex’s layout have not changed.

The complex will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in three-story buildings, all with windows looking onto Mount Si. The complex will be located next to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, owned by King County, and will have two access points to the trail.

Under the terms of the 2002 agreement, A.F. Evans would pay North Bend about $2 million in sewage, road improvement, parks and school mitigation fees.

Road improvement projects outlined in the agreement include building a collector street along the western edge of the property that would end where it intersects with the main entrance to the complex; widening East North Bend Way near the project and making curb, gutter and sidewalk improvements along both sides of the street.

Although North Bend has been in a building moratorium since 1999 due to a lack of water rights, a temporary interlocal agreement with the Sallal Water Association was struck to clear the way for the project. Under the agreement Sallal would temporarily provide water to the complex, two-thirds of which falls within the water district’s boundaries. If and when new water rights are acquired by the city, North Bend would provide water to the property.

Community Services Director Larry Stockton said once the financing paperwork is approved, there remain minor “crossing the T’s, dotting the I’s” formalities regarding permits left to do, but he does not expect the work to delay any potential start date.

Travis Peterson can be reached at (425) 888-2311 or by e-mail at travis.peterson@valleyrecord.com