A new Ethiopian restaurant is coming to Spokane Valley within the next year.

Property owner Cristin Argaw filed a preliminary application with the city to build Kaffa Ethiopian Cafe at 19017 E. Appleway Ave.

Argaw’s plans are to open the establishment this fall as a coffee shop with a drive-thru, which will serve Ethiopian coffee.

Argaw will continue to build out the space into a restaurant that offers several Ethiopian vegetarian options, with plans to be fully operational by next year.

Kaffa Ethiopian Cafe is Argaw’s first restaurant, which she will operate with her sister-in-law, who’s from Ethiopia.

“I’ve worked in the food industry and always wanted to open a restaurant, but wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” she said. “My sister-in-law had always dreamed of opening an Ethiopian restaurant, so we pooled our talents and decided to open (Kaffa Ethiopian Cafe).”

They looked at potential locations in Liberty Lake, north Spokane and Post Falls, but Spokane Valley is where they ultimately wanted to open the restaurant.

“I want to bring something new to the Valley,” Argaw said. “There’s a lot of people moving here and there’s a lot of growth. I wanted to bring something different that people will hopefully really enjoy.”

Plans filed for development with apartments, retail on Flora Road

A mixed-use apartment and retail development could be coming to Spokane Valley.

Fortune Design & Development LLC filed preliminary plans with the city to potentially build a five-story, 300-unit apartment development spanning two buildings at 1215 N. Flora Road.

The 375,000-square-foot proposed development would also include a third, 15,000-square-foot retail building, according to site plans.

Rex Anderson,of Spokane-based Fusion Architecture PLLC is the project architect.

Foursquare to convert warehouses to church in Airway Heights

The Foursquare Church has filed a proposal with the city of Airway Heights to convert two warehouse buildings into a new church.

The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel intends to develop the warehouses into a 7,000-square-foot church on a 1-acre site at 12703 W. 14th Ave., according to site plans filed with the city.

The site also includes space for an additional 6,000-square-foot building for church-related activities, according to documents.

Construction on the church is slated to begin this summer.