Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business -- June 2018

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June 2018

Volume 17 • Issue 6

FedEx facility gets $6 million overhaul in Pasco BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Agriculture

NW Farm Supply prepares to open fourth store in Prosser Page 11

Real Estate & Construction

After two years, Hill’s Restaurant expects fall re-opening Page 23

Manufacturing

Manufacturing outlook shows job growth slowing page 41

She Said It

“You are the energizer for your company or department. Your staff look to you for leadership and guidance. - Jeanne Dillner, CEO of SIGN Fracture Care International Page 45

A major expansion of the FedEx footprint is underway at the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco. The local hub is getting a $6 million overhaul, increasing in size from 14,000 square feet to 51,000 square feet. The goal “is to have it look like a brand new building,” said developer Chris A. Smith of CAS Properties. His company has a long history of working with FedEx, having bought or leased land for FedEx facilities since the mid-1980s. Work got underway at the site at 1705 Argent Road on April 1 and is being fasttracked for completion by the end of October. Sixty-five employees work at the facility. Two months into the project, the walls of the new sorting and shipping building are nearly complete. The roof is being constructed in phases. The upgrades aren’t expected to change the FedEx home delivery experience in the area. A customer would only notice the difference if visiting the Pasco store, across from Sun Willows Golf Course, on the southeastern corner of airport property. A new customer service facility is expected to be completed by September and will accommodate a half-dozen customers at a time, with three service stations, instead of the current two. Office space for on-site administrators will increase by a third, and the site will get new parking lots for customers and shipment vans. FedEx has been at the Pasco site since 1992 after moving from Union Street in Kennewick. It has held a right-of-first-refusal agreement with the airport for 4.25 acres of land on Port of Pasco airport property. This has allowed for FedEx’s eventual expansion, an idea that had been considered for years. “For all of the facilities located in the Northwest, this is probably one of the fastergrowing stations. FedEx’s confidence in the Tri-Cities economy has led to this expansion,” Smith said. uFEDEX, Page 35

Building owners Dr. Gordon Hsieh, from left, Dr. Stan Ling and his wife Grace stand with Tri-City investors Hilda and Manny Chavallo in front of the Cynergy Centre off 27th Avenue in Kennewick. The owners have plans to remarket the 14-year-old mixed-use professional center. (Courtesy Kenmore Team)

Building owners want to create synergy to relaunch Cynergy Centre BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz

After sitting vacant for months, Kennewick’s three-story Cynergy Centre is ready for its part deux debut. The building features a wall of curved glass at the entrance and is near the traffic circle at 27th Avenue and Union Street in the Southridge area of Kennewick. Two doctors and a Tri-City investor

have teamed up to re-invigorate the mixed-use, 26,631-square-foot building at 4309 W. 27th Place that’s valued at $3.6 million, according to the Benton County Assessor’s website. Once home to several doctors’ offices and several defunct restaurants — The Alley Public House and Brews, Barrel House Café and Wine Bar, Veritas and Cynergy Café — it has been empty for months. uCYNERGY, Page 4

Kennewick’s Tri-Tech to offer high school training for in-demand drone careers BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Tri-Tech Skills Center officials hope a new program that includes drone-making will show students the sky’s the limit when it comes to job opportunities and careers in the unmanned flight and manufacturing industry. The new program launches this fall in a building recently constructed on the school’s Tri-Tech East campus in Kennewick. The building also will be used for existing firefighting and law enforcement programs offered at the tuition-free public school which provides students advanced technical and professional training. Tri-Tech Principal Paul Randall said the school had been looking for ways to interest students in its manufacturing program,

as there are a wealth of jobs available to students with these skills. “We have tried for years to sell a standard manufacturing-type program. We know that there’s a really good job opportunity, that there’s a really good wage, and the third part of our little test, is ‘Are kids interested?’ We know the first two are there, there’s opportunity and a living wage, but the kids aren’t there,” he said. Randall discovered a way to get the kids interested during a national career and technical education conference: pair manufacturing classes with drone aviation. “We’re using something that’s very attractive to kids to hook them, and then build those skills, knowing they’re not going to be entry-level manufacturing workers, but at least they’re interested,” Randall said. uDRONES, Page 42

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