Developers model Spokane project after Tri-City development

By Erica Bullock for Spokane Journal of Business

Fat Cat of Spokane has redesigned its proposed garage condo development, scrapping plans for commercial spaces to focus instead on 40 new storage units to sell or lease at 9014 W. Hilton, in Spokane.

“We found demand for storage units seemed to be higher than the demand for the commercial building. So, we decided to do all garage condos,” said Tricia Jarrett, co-owner of Pasco-based Tricia Jarrett Developments LLC.

The redesigned project has a new estimated construction cost of nearly $6.8 million.

The previous plan called for 35 garage condo units and six commercial spaces with a total value of $4.9 million.

“When we got our numbers back, we decided it made more sense to just do the garage condos,” Jarrett said.

Storage condos appear to be an emerging trend on the West Plains. Longtime commercial real estate brokers Chris and Marianne Bornhoft of Bornhoft Commercial are preparing to open a storage condo complex, dubbed Garage Lodge, this year. Garage Lodge is a 23-unit luxury storage condo complex at 1551 S. Deer Heights Road, about two miles west of Fat Cat of Spokane.

The new design for the Fat Cat development includes six insulated, temperature-controlled metal buildings with lighting and plumbing installed in each unit, she said. Amenities will include a shared wash bay and additional parking.

The buildings will have a total of 56,500 square feet of garage condo storage space in all, according to permits on file with the city of Spokane.

Storage buildings will range in size from 5,100 square feet up to 15,000 square feet. Two structures will have four units each, another building will have five units, and three buildings will have eight to 10 units.

Units will range in size from about 1,200 square feet to 1,500 square feet, and one unit will be 750 square feet.

Jarrett said the goal is to complete the project before the start of winter.

Spokane-based Baker Construction & Development Inc. is the contractor. MMEC Architecture & Interiors of Spokane designed the project.

Jarrett said Baker Construction’s President Barry Baker and chief development officer Brooke Baker Spink also are part of Fat Cat’s ownership group and will help show the property to prospective buyers and tenants when needed.

Lessons learned from Tri-Cities

Another member of the ownership group is Jarrett’s father, Tim Bush, who operates the Tri-Cities-based Fat Cat Garage Condos through another company, TTB Investments LLC.

Jarrett said her father and two brothers developed the Tri-Cities storage complex that opened last year, while she and her father are developing the Spokane complex.

She said Fat Cat of Spokane will incorporate the lessons learned from the Tri-City operations.

“The project in Tri-Cities is really similar, but we’ve made a couple of changes because we have learned a few things,” Jarrett said.

For example, Fat Cat of Spokane will have fewer drive-thru garage units than in the Tri-Cities due to a lower demand, she said. Other improvements at the West Plains site include design ele- ments to add natural light and sloping the ground to divert water and prevent pooling in units.

She said reservations for the garage condos will open after subcontractor bids are received and the company can set the unit pricing.

Jarrett said she initially thought the garage condos would be occupied mostly by recreational vehicles and watercraft. However, she’s been surprised by some of the tenants in Tri-Cities that use their facilities.

“What they’ve found is a wider variety (of tenants), such as the police department ... or the school district,” she said. “There was a snow cone truck that stored an extra cart there, and those things we weren’t expecting.”

She said Fat Cat of Spokane won’t have any employees, although the property will be secured with a gate and security cameras.

Facility maintenance will be arranged through a garage condo association and split between all 40 units.

“A lot of people have these toys, cars, RVs that they want to protect, and a lot of times people end up putting them in a gravel lot, or in something that’s not temperature controlled,” she says. “People here work hard to buy these things and you want to make sure they’re going to be taken care of, out of the elements.”

Realtors association award winners

The Tri-City Association of Realtors recently announced the recipients of its awards for 2022.

These Realtors and community members were recognized in the following categories:

• Affiliate of the Year: Jeff Parry, Stewart Title.

• President’s Award: Katie Copeland, Keller Williams Columbia Basin.

• Rookie of the Year: Katie Teas, Windermere Group One/Tri-Cities.

• Realtor Achievement: Gayle Stack, Everstar Realty.

• Realtor Community Service: Marnie Vitt, Coldwell Banker Tomlinson.

• Realtor of the Year: John Keltch, Windermere Group One/Tri-Cities.

• Citizen of the Year (Non-Realtor): Bob Zinsli.

• Larry E. Miller Award of Excellence: Pat Butts, Coldwell Banker Tomlinson.

Three Mile Canyon Farms signs 5-year lease

Three Mile Canyon Farms LLC has signed a five-year lease for 2,943 square feet of office space at 100 N Fruitland St., Suite 3, in Kennewick.

In 2015 Three Mile Canyon set up a lab for in vitro fertilization. The company decided to renew for another five years because the business has continued to flourish and the lease has included an option to renew it at the end of this term in case the business continues to grow, said Todd Sternfeld of NAI Tri-Cities, who represented the landlord, Fruitland Office Center LLC.

Penske opens new

$1.5 millon facility in Pasco

Penske Truck Leasing recently opened a $1.5 million facility at 1522 E. Hillsboro St. in Pasco.

It offers consumer and commercial truck rentals, full-service truck leasing and contract truck fleet maintenance services.

The 12,301-square-foot building, which sits 6.21 acres off Highway 395, features three drive-thru bays with six service areas.

Ordell Construction was the general contractor.

The building is outfitted with the Penske’s proprietary digital and voice-directed preventive maintenance process and other digital experience solutions that help fleet customers make the most of technologies such as telematics, onboard cameras and electronic logging devices.

“We’ve been growing steadily in the Northwest region and required a larger space to accommodate our increasing customer base in and around the Pasco area,” said Chavela Brown, area vice president – Northwest region. “The added capabilities and capacity at this incredible facility maximizes fleet uptime and a state-of-theart environment with cutting-edge technology for our associates.”

The Reading, Pennsylvania-headquartered company employs about 15 associates at the new facility, and is hiring truck technicians, management trainees and customer service representatives locally and nationwide. Go to penske.jobs for more information.