March 2022 Volume 21 | Issue 3
Public market readies for its Kennewick debut By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
Hospitality
Women take helm at the Richland waterfront Page A17
Business Profile
Dagupan Grill survived the pandemic thanks to its Filipino fans Page A37
Real Estate & Construction
Tri-City developers pivot to garage condos and flex space Page B1
NOTEWORTHY “A CEO’s job isn’t to determine when they want to retire. It’s to determine when the next in line is ready.” - Jeff Petersen of Petersen Hastings
Page A13
There have been plenty of efforts to bring a public market to the Tri-Cities. But after years of talk, an all-private effort with 70 vendors, including Ice Harbor Brewery and Columbia Industries’ Opportunity Kitchen, is about to open in Kennewick. The Public Market @ Columbia River Warehouse is set to debut its first phase in May in the former Welch’s-J. Lieb Foods campus straddling Bruneau Avenue, said Kelsey Bitton, project and property manager. The market is an ambitious and timely remaking of a property that once anchored Kennewick’s industrial downtown. The former juice plant has operated under several names, including Welch’s, and was put on the market in 2019 after the most recent manufacturer, J. Lieb Foods Inc., was purchased by Refresco Beverages USA. Columbia River Warehouse LLC, led by Corey Bitton of Pasco, closed the $2.7 million purchase in 2021. Kelsey Bitton said the initial plan was to lease it to a larger business but turned to the market concept to generate cash flow after larger plans collapsed when financing dried up. “Obviously, from a business standpoint, the owner needed to lease it out,” she said. And downtown Kennewick seemed like a natural place to start, despite long-standing efforts to create a market on the Pasco side of the Columbia River. The old J. Lieb-Welch’s property was not designed as a public market, but it does not need a lot of work to convert. And it has the critical elements a public facility needs – fire sprinklers and ample power to support vendors, as well as restaurants and small producers. “We don’t really have anything like that in the Tri-Cities. We don’t have that many buildings in the Tri-Cities with that downtown, industrial warehouse feel. That’s very in right now.” uPUBLIC MARKET, Page A30
Courtesy Columbia Industries Vincent Laraiso prepares sandwiches at Opportunity Kitchen, a training program run by Columbia Industries. He graduated in February.
Columbia Industries sells records division, goes deep on service mission By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
Columbia Industries, a Kennewick nonprofit that funds its mission to serve people with special needs by operating a series of for-profit businesses, has sold its records business as it shifts to deepen its impact. Memphis, Tennessee-based Vital Records Control (VRC) purchased the records side of CI Information Management in a deal finalized on March 1. Terms were not disclosed, and the sale did not include the shredding business. “It was a good time to get out,” said Marie Lathim, chief administrative and human resources officer. Lathim, together with interim CEO Eric Van Winkle, said the records business increasingly turned to high-tech electronics and was housed in a facility with triple security – as secure as any Hanford site, they joked.
VRC, a multimillion-dollar firm operating in more than 70 markets, approached it as part of its own expansion into the Pacific Northwest. VRC, which registered in Washington in late 2021, introduced itself to former CI Information Management customers in the Tri-Cities in early March. Records will continue to be stored locally, it said. Columbia Industries said it is investing proceeds from the sale into the programs that support Tri-Citians with special needs. The decision to sell didn’t affect its other businesses. The move comes as Columbia Industries shifts to a “go deeper” strategy to build out its programs serving a wide range of TriCitians. In recent years, it has purchased a series of for-profit businesses to support its nonprofit mission. For now, it is done buying businesses uCOLUMBIA INDUSTRIES, Page A4
Frost Me Sweet plans national deliveries, milkshake drive-thru By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
Richland’s Frost Me Sweet Bistro & Bakery is casting off the lingering effects of the pandemic by adding a new bakery, as well as a drive-thru cake-shake business on Wellsian Way. The new location will provide muchneeded workspace for Frost Me Sweet’s bakers while allowing owners Megan and Jason Savely to make a business out of the cake-based milkshakes their staff enjoy behind the scenes at their bistro restaurant at The Parkway.
The Savelys signed a 10-year lease for the former Folded Pizza Pie restaurant, 421 Wellsian Way, to house the expansion. Frost Me Sweet will move its bakery, which is near its bistro in The Parkway, in April. Frost Me Sweet Cake & Shake will begin selling over-the-top cake-based milkshakes in mid-May. The Cake & Shake business is secondary to the building’s real purpose: It will enable Frost Me Sweet to ship its products anywhere in the nation. With the new kitchen, it can secure a uCAKE & SHAKE, Page A33
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