Port of Kennewick 47 City of Pasco

Port of Kennewick

The new water feature at Vista Field in Kennewick. | Courtesy PS Media for Port of Kennewick

Vista Field, Columbia Gardens ready for sale

BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

Almost a decade after closing Vista Field, the Port of Kennewick is poised to start selling land and to welcome new construction after challenges and delays brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Everything has to be talked about against the backdrop of where we’re still at in 2021,” said Tim Arntzen, the port’s chief executive officer. “We’re in a different world right now. Prior to Covid, we’d been foot on the gas, ready to roll things out.”

The port is ready to offer up its desirable land – right in the heart of Kennewick and never previously available to private developers – now that the city of Kennewick has signed off on about $4 million in infrastructure work at the former municipal airport, described as “first cabin, no cutting corners.”

This includes road work, sidewalks, utilities and landscaping to prep the site for project proposals on shovel-ready land.

“We’re ready to pop, in a real positive way,” Arntzen said.

From here, the port will finalize design standards and set pricing before soliciting requests from developers interested in building there.

A key feature of the infrastructure includes a chlorinated stream running from West Deschutes Avenue north toward West Rio Grande Avenue. The water feature in the middle of the former airport includes trees, waterfalls, rocks, bridges, fountains, benches and walking paths.

“That stream is going to rival the lighthouse for an iconic feature in our community,” Arntzen said, referring to the port’s lighthouse on Clover Island. “There’s a lot of pride that we built something that’s drawing wildlife.”

Unexpected pandemic-related chlorine shortages occasionally have affected the clarity of the stream, but Arntzen is optimistic the shortage will pass.

‘Most coveted area’

Arntzen predicts “for sale” signs will be in the ground after the first of the year and the first land sale publicized by March 2022.

“We’ve got a diamond in the rough, and it’s a big one. We are going to figure out a few paperwork things right now, but this is our diamond mine and we’ve got to find our diamond buyers,” he said.

Buyers will be building on land Arntzen believes to be the “most coveted area in the Tri-Cities.”

“I don’t care how you draw the map, if you put crosshairs at the center, it’s Vista Field, and we own it,” he said.

Projects will need to align with a master plan for walkable streets offering a mix of commercial, retail and residential development across 103 acres. „

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“We’re going to be forthright and aggressive in selling this property to a builder for the right price that will do great things,” Arntzen said. “We’re a community that likes government to get ... out of the way. We like the private sector to do things rather than government building empires.”

Getting the land on the tax rolls will include partnering with local builders who can execute the vision of 1,100 residential units in a “pedestrian-focused regional town center” that also will include civic amenities, entertainment and recreation opportunities throughout small-scale streets designed to encourage limited use of vehicles.

Columbia Gardens

The port’s Columbia Gardens Urban Wine & Artisan Village has grown to include four wineries, plus a parking lot that doubles as its Food Truck Plaza.

The port has added string lights, seating and canopies for shade to encourage customers to patronize the regular eateries like Culture Shock Bistro, Swampy’s BBQ Sauce & Eatery, Nonfiction and Bobablastic Tri-Cities.

New fencing with a standingheight counter area was added and permanent restrooms are in the works.

“The greatest thing would be if we could get through Covid. You need the people to have great things; we need them to be circulating in our wine village,” Arntzen said. “We have great plans for the waterfront.”

Highlighting the waterfront

The waterfront has taken on a whole new dynamic with the addition of the wine village and the ongoing rehab of Clover Island.

The projects were part of the port’s last master plan, first adopted about 15 years ago.

After completing 90% of the items on the list, the port wrapped its new master plan covering Clover Island and the near shore and found the pandemic benefited the

planning process.

“We got way more participation with people doing it strictly remotely. We got a ton of public participation – possibly three times as much as the last one,” Arntzen said.

The Kennewick Historic Waterfront District Master Plan will work to guide the priority projects for investments around Clover Island and Columbia Gardens, as well as The Willows, a mixed-use site covering nearly seven acres by the waterfront, and Cable Greens, the property at the base of the cable bridge, just east of the wine village, and also intended for mixed use.

Development at The Willows and Cable Greens has been part of a long-term vision to acquire properties and rehabilitate them.

“We have more property than we did in 2004,” said Arntzen, who said the properties once had the perception of being “grungy or downtrodden,” but that’s no longer the case.

He believes people want to live on waterfront land, and the port has worked to make the area even more appealing through updates to the nearby Duffy’s Pond and walking trails.

The port also developed an owners’ association and is working to set pricing for selling parcels.

Road work throughout the spring and summer on nearby Washington Street will help connect the waterfront with Kennewick’s commercial core, adding

We’re ready to pop, in a real positive way.

Tim Arntzen, CEO, Port of Kennewick

A paved path attracts bikers and walkers alike at the Columbia Gardens Urban Wine & Artisan Village in Kennewick.

Courtesy Kim Fetrow for Port of Kennewick

landscaping planters, lighting and wider sidewalks between Columbia Drive and Kennewick Avenue.

It will make the waterfront and downtown core more walkable, a benefit the port was happy to chip in $500,000 toward the project cost.

“East Kennewick has been the forgotten part of town – and it’s where the community started,” Arntzen said. “After the downtown core decayed over time, millions have been pumped back in, and you’ve got to do that – so you can give people a reason to stay and come to this side of town.”

Arntzen said improvements at the waterfront have progressed with market demand.

“There were things we couldn’t implement before – there probably wasn’t time for it. Now it’s getting closer to time, and people want to invest with their own dollars,” he said.

A project planned for late 2021 will restore shorelines on Clover Island and extend recreation paths along the river.

Board turnover

The 12-person staff for the Port of Kennewick will welcome a familiar new face to its board of commissioners with the departure of Don Barnes, current board president and commissioner for nearly a decade.

He’s set to be replaced by Ken Hohenberg, Kennewick’s current police chief and assistant city manager. As the sole candidate for the open District 1 position in the November election, Hohenberg will take office in January 2022.

“It’s a perfect fit for me,” Hohenberg said, reflecting on his desire to continue serving the community following his planned retirement in February 2022 as police chief.

“When I retire, it’s good to separate myself from city government and cut the strings,” he said.

Arntzen looks forward to Hohenberg joining the commission.

“He is one of the most prominent statespersons in our community, and I’m really excited to give him a chance to get his hands on the controls,” he said.

Hohenberg comes to the commission following a couple years of infighting that resulted in a formal complaint lodged against Barnes and Tom Moak by a fellow commissioner, Skip Novakovich. It ended up costing taxpayers nearly half-a-million dollars in investigative costs before being resolved.

“When you go from an active organization, a new speed record broken every day, and then you have the procedural and political stuff, it takes a bite out of you,” Arntzen said.

Hohenberg said Barnes has been “thoughtful” with his time and helped prepare the incoming commissioner, as Hohenberg hopes to move beyond the past distractions.

“The port has done a lot of great projects over the years and made courageous decisions. Barnes was part of the decision to close the airport (Vista Field), but I believe it’s created a much better benefit to all Tri-Citians. I want to capitalize on that and see some of these projects come out of the ground,” Hohenberg said.

The port has recently invested in projects within its boundaries, including partnering with the city of Richland to spend $800,000 in improvements to Columbia Park Trail, adding sidewalks, a bike path and lighting.

It also sold land in the city of West Richland that is the site of the city’s new police station, now under construction. It will be completed in November.

Another land sale in West Richland allowed Benton Fire District 4 to build its Keene Road station, which opened this summer, to support the continued growth at the west end of the Tri-Cities.

“If your objective is to build things for the community, it doesn’t matter who does it,” Arntzen said. 

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Port of Pasco

Pioneer Packaging is building a $3.8 million warehouse at 5818 Industrial Way in Pasco. | Photo by Kristina Lord

Industrial expansion targets open land

BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

The Port of Pasco is set to become the home base for the largest milk protein facility in North America – employing hundreds of people with well-paying jobs at a new Darigold facility that will anchor the Reimann Industrial Center.

Darigold Inc. expects the project to employ more than 1,000. Those at the plant will include about 200 workers for the highlyautomated, 400,000-square-foot facility, hiring technicians, machinists and programmers.

“The new jobs at the plant and the new jobs at dairy farms create extraordinary opportunities for Franklin County residents,” said Jim Klindworth, Port of Pasco commission president.

Darigold intends to buy half of the 300 acres available at Reimann, close to Highway 395, about a mile north of the Pasco Processing Center that’s home to Kenyon Zero Storage, Pasco Processing, Twin City Foods, Americold and FedEx, among others.

Darigold plans to produce a specialized protein powder and butter, with much of the factory’s output headed to the Pacific Rim.

At an expected construction cost of $500 million, it will become the largest private industrial development ever at the Port of Pasco. Site work likely will begin in 2022 with commercial production at the plant starting by early 2024.

The state’s $7.5 million commitment to infrastructure work helped assure the land sale went through.

Reser’s new facility

Reser’s Fine Foods is building a 250,000-square-foot processing plant at the Pasco Industrial Center 395.

The 90-acre plot was part of a single land deal just east of the Pasco Processing Center, where another Reser’s facility is located.

The port’s executive director, Randy Hayden, called it, “an opportunity we couldn’t pass up” and said the property “checks all the boxes with excellent road „

Reser’s Fine Foods is building a 250,000-square-foot food processing plant

at 5526 Capitol Ave. in Pasco. | Photo by Kristina Lord

access and other utilities already in place.”

The port will retain 50 acres from the purchase, with Reser’s utilizing the remaining 40. The processing facility is expected to be done in 2022, bringing just over 300 jobs to a building more than twice the size of the current Reser’s property in Pasco, which is set to be “retooled.”

Serving smaller business

As the port has courted large food processors, it’s also found success with smaller businesses looking to locate nearby agriculture or food processing.

Hayden said the port sold out of all of the lots available in Foster Wells Business Park, a 50-acre area divided into 2- to 10-acre parcels, adjacent to the Pasco Processing Center, also off Highway 395.

“New facilities have been constructed and all the buildings are either up or in the process of going up,” Hayden said.

A large infrastructure project is taking place south of the processing facilities, adding $8 million in roads and storm water lines to support docks in the Big Pasco, Industrial Center.

“So many logistics operators are bringing in stuff and shipping out on trucks, so having docks and roads to support that is important,” Hayden said.

Osprey Pointe ready to fly

Infrastructure – specifically sewer and water – have delayed timelines for Osprey Pointe Marketplace, which also has been affected by pandemic.

“There were months we couldn’t reach the city because they were on a skeleton crew and could only respond to emergencies,” said James Sexton, Osprey Pointe developer and president of JMS Development.

“If it weren’t for Covid, we would have buildings up right now.”

The new target is late spring or summer 2022 for a public market at East Ainsworth Avenue and South Oregon Avenue.

The prefabricated, 76,000-square-foot metal building should arrive soon and the exterior will be embellished with wings that include a three-story add-on with a banquet room.

Osprey Pointe Marketplace will house up to 120 spots for local vendors and restaurants.

Described as a “loss leader” for the overall project, expected pricing for vendors will be as low as $25/day for a seasonal, weekend table, and up to $1,400/monthly for the largest space.

The banquet room will be marketed as a site for wedding receptions or other gatherings. The team is courting local artists to participate in a gallery on the site to showcase and sell their works without needing to rent and staff a booth.

“A student interested in art could work there to man the booth and split the costs between featured artists; and now we’re helping out a college student or high school student with a part- time job,” Sexton said.

Utility work should begin this fall with the marketplace’s foundation laid at the same time.

“That way, if winter comes early, we can keep building,” Sexton said.

The commercial piece is just a portion of the $100-million, decade-long project in east Pasco that’s expected to include 600 homes as well.

A recent zoning change by the city will pave the way for the first 33 detached townhomes, expected to be done by summer 2022, adding to the roughly 97,000 people who currently live in the port’s boundaries.

“They would own the land directly below the unit, and the homeowners association will maintain the lawn,” Sexton said.

At the north end of the port’s boundaries, a building owned by the city of Connell was recently transformed from a former medical office to the North Franklin Visitor Center.

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Tri-Cities Airport

Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco. | Courtesy Port of Pasco

Pandemic has air travel in a holding pattern

BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

Covid-19 has taken a bite out of air travel at the Port of Pasco-operated Tri-Cities Airport, which hasn’t rebounded as hoped, just as the end of summer tends to “dry up” leisure travel, said Airport Director Buck Taft.

“I don’t have the confidence to say anything for certain. It’s taking a dip as of right now, and the business traveler is the key,” he said.

In the early days of the pandemic, boardings fell by more than 90%. Boardings returned to 90% of pre-Covid levels, but Taft said industry predictions suggest it might not be until 2024 that air travel fully returns to 2019 numbers.

In the last year, the airport has added three new flights, connecting Pasco with two southern California destinations, Burbank and San Diego, and the RenoTahoe area.

Taft said Los Angeles International remains the No. 1 market the airport is hoping to land as a daily nonstop.

“Portland is still on the radar for next year as a route we want to capture,” Taft said. The airport wants to make a play for service to Phoenix, Dallas and Chicago as well.

“We feel those cities are our next step. What order they come in – my crystal ball isn’t that good,” he said.

Taft said the Tri-Cities is still a hot market for new routes, but it’s more isolated and just a little farther away than some other desirable spots, like Bend, Oregon.

“Oregon airports are closer to L.A. than we are. When we’re competing, they’re going to get the service first,” Taft said.

The airport currently offers daily, nonstop flights to Denver, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Seattle, and weekly or seasonal flights to Burbank, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, MesaPhoenix and San Diego.

Flights to Reno-Tahoe International Airport begin Oct. 24.

The entire industry has suffered from pilot shortages, a problem that began prior to the pandemic, and most new pilots start in regional airports, like Pasco, before moving to longerhaul routes.

A plan to add a commercial building at the Tri-Cities Airport Business Center has fallen off initial predictions to start construction in late 2020.

The port signed a long-term lease for The Landing at West Argent Road and Varney Lane, near Columbia Basin College, which is expected to include a flex building, followed by retail space, said Randy Hayden, the port’s executive director.

“It’ll happen. There’s just been delays for many reasons,” he said. 