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“Park Place supports our long-term strategy,” Wallner said. “It’s fantastic when it comes together, especially after questions of if commercial spaces would come back. I’m glad to see the plan was successful.”

Villa has been a part of the project since construction and says filling the retail space hasn’t been a challenge, but rather finding the right retailers.

She said they sought retailers who complemented the urban living experience.

“Because our parking lot is on the smaller side, we wanted retail tenants that had office hours that flowed with the working hours of our tenants. That was the hold up of leasing them out,” Villa said.

Villa said Lambert turned down multiple prospective tenants, holding tight to the original vision for the property. Meet the retailers

Tulipe’s neighbor, Graze – A Place to Eat, was the first tenant to sign a fiveyear lease.

Owned by John and Rebecca Lastoskie, Graze is a popular lunch spot that debuted in Walla Walla in 2009. It now has additional locations in Kennewick and Park Place in Richland.

The sandwich shop at 610 George Washington Way moved from the nearby Parkway retail area in May 2021.

The owners said it was a good move.

“It’s been great,” said John Lastoskie. “It has better access with parking and visibility than the Parkway location. It’s a win for customers, really.”

It’s a win for Graze as well, as it plans to open a new restaurant in Kennewick the first week of June.

It is under construction at 131 N. Ely St., the former China Cafe spot in Kennewick. It will be a drive-thru only, a

– CORRECTION –

Mailing address: 8524 W. Gage Blvd., #A1-300 Kennewick, WA 99336 tcjournal.biz The

“We hope we keep doing an all right job,” he laughed.

Popcorn Northwest, at 624 George Washington Way, opened its first brick and mortar last October at Park Place. It’s locally-owned by Jeramy Schultz, who has been in the kettle corn business since 2004 and got his start with vendor tents at Howard Amon. The business sells popcorn, caramel apples and other seasonal sweet treats.

Fleet Feet, a custom shoe shop, recently opened at 620 George Washington Way. The Richland franchise is owned by Spokane-based couple Julie and Wade Pannell.

“Being located right by the riverfront trails, many of our residents and community members are in need of running shoes and apparel,” Villa said. “For Popcorn Northwest, many of our apartment residents were already familiar with their vendor booth at Howard Amon.”

A Fleet Feet staffer said the store was busier than they planned, which was a good problem to have.

Of the six retail spaces along the GWay corridor, Graze and Fleet Feet occupy double suites for their kitchen and stock room, respectively.

Tulipe, pronounced “two-leap,” is owned by two working-class women: Pasco native Kelli Kania and Sunnyside native Heather Nickolaus.

“This is a brand new shop we dreamed up about a year and a half ago, and we decided to take the plunge. The shop was inspired by my friend Heather and I to bring people back to brick and mortar shopping – creating an experience of all the senses: sight, smell, touch and communication,” Kania said.

With a whimsical and classic vibe, about 80% of the clothing is for women

“When we found this space, Mark helped us from the very beginning,” Kania said. “We had a really good fit with the space and the community. We call them our Tulipe angels.”

Park Place’s lower-level storefronts are leased by Studio Paloma, which provides permanent make-up, tanning and waxing services, and Sweet Spot Hair Salon.

Studio Paloma opened October 2022 and Sweet Spot is expected to open this summer.

“It’s nice that our residents can just take an elevator down and have access to beauty locations,” Villa said. “That was always the plan to have retail on GWay as well as down below.”

However, the original plan was to have four retail spaces on the river-facing side of the building.

Plans quickly changed. Studio Paloma took two spaces and the property converted one space to tenant storage due to high demand from the residents. Creating a close community

Park Place’s urban living and community-based focus has helped attract retailers and residents.

“This community is very close,” Villa said. “We have a social community group. We market to businesses to our residents and they are super excited about who’s moving in. It’s helped us maintain a high occupancy.”

Park Place opened its doors in April 2022 and finished leasing the building by summertime, with a waiting list for about six months. Now with leases ending, they say they have a rotating door with occupancies every month that are filled.

Go to: parkplacerichland.com.

Transit extends service to east Pasco, Amazon warehouses

Ben Franklin Transit has extended Pasco’s Route 64 service to include the new Amazon warehouses, as well as the communities of Tierra Vida and Lakeview near Highway 12 in Pasco.

The service, which launched March 12, will provide greater access to public transportation for both east Pasco residents and those commuting to the new Amazon facilities.

“We have partnered with Amazon to make transit services available to their employees as soon as the facilities are up and running,” said BFT General Manager Rachelle Glazier in a statement.

Lamb Weston completes purchase of Meijer

Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LW) recently completed its purchase of the remaining equity interests in its European joint venture with Meijer Frozen Foods B.V.

The final transaction consideration consisted of $525 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments, and more than 1.9 million shares of Lamb Weston common stock.

The company, based in Eagle, Idaho, announced its intent to purchase the interest in October 2022.

Lamb Weston now owns 100% of Lamb-Weston/Meijer, which formerly operated as a 50-50 joint venture between a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lamb Weston and Meijer Frozen Foods.

With the acquisition, the company adds an additional five manufacturing facilities to its footprint worldwide, including four facilities in the Netherlands and one in the United Kingdom, as well as a sixth manufacturing facility operated through a 75% interest in a joint venture in Austria.

These facilities produce nearly 2 billion pounds of finished frozen products annually.

Lamb Weston operates frozen potato plants as well as storage facilities throughout the Mid-Columbia and has research facilities in Richland and corporate offices in Kennewick.

Women of Distinction nominations due March 20

The deadline for nominations for the Washington State University Tri-Cities Women of Distinction Awards is March 20.

The award recognizes campus and community members who have made notable contributions to WSU Tri-Cities through service, teaching or involvement.

The award is presented to five people each year.

WSU Tri-Cities will host an award ceremony April 20 at the WSU Tri-Cities Art Center to honor the winners, as well as those nominated for the award.

The Women of Distinction Stories Exhibit highlighting previous members will be on display April 20-27.

To submit a nomination and for more information, go to: tricities.wsu.edu/womenof-distinction.

Send goat to a favorite business to help nonprofit

The Wishing Star Foundation will be delivering baby goats for visits within the Tri-City community April 10-14.

A $75 donation to the nonprofit enables members of the community to have fun with unsuspecting friends, family or colleagues by having a real baby goat delivered to offices or businesses on the day and time of their choice.

The recipient who has been “goated” will be asked to donate any amount to pay for the removal of the four-legged kid.

Anyone can sign up to deliver a goat, or they can buy $100 “goat insurance” to prevent a surprise visit by going to wishingstar.org/events/goats.

Wishing Star provides wishes to children who are terminal or battling a life- threatening illness in Spokane, Tri-Cities and Kootenai counties.

Scholarships for CTE students now open

Washington’s top career and technical education (CTE) students may apply for a scholarship that can help them pay for up to two years of college.

The Washington Award for Vocational Excellence is a merit-based award that helps undergraduate students pay for tuition and other costs at Washington colleges, universities or private career schools.

Top career and technical education students at both the high school and community and technical college level are eligible to apply.

These students study marine science, automotive technology, advanced manu- facturing, information technology, agriculture and more.

The scholarship pays up to two years of tuition or other costs. The minimum award is $4,500 per year for up to two years, or $9,000. The maximum award is $11,700 per year for up to two years, or $23,400. Awards may vary depending on where the student goes to school.

As many as 147 students will receive scholarships this year – two high school students, and one community or technical college student from each of Washington’s 49 legislative districts.

To qualify, students must have completed high school or community and technical college career technical education courses.

Entries will be accepted through March 17. To apply and learn more, go to: wtb. wa.gov/wave.

MARCH 16

• Building Bridges Networking Event: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Blankslate, 804 Babs Ave., Benton City. Join the Benton City, West Richland, Pasco and Tri-Cities Hispanic chambers for a free networking event.

MARCH 17

• Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce annual dinner: 6-9:30 p.m., Pasco Red Lion Hotel, 2525 N. 20th Ave. Cost: $60 per person, $400 for table of eight. Register at tchispanicchamber. com.

• Rascal Rodeo’s ninth annual Honky Tonk Hoedown: 5:30-11:30 p.m., Benton County Fairgrounds, 1500 S. Oak St., Building 2, Kennewick. Tickets at rascalrodeo.org.

MARCH 21

• Pasco Regional Chamber, Business Lender Panel: 11:30 a.m.1 p.m., Pasco Red Lion, 2525 N. 20th Ave, Pasco. Register at bit.ly/ PCCLenderPanel.

• Richland Chamber Luncheon: