AUGUST 2020 Volume 19 | Issue 8
Community foundation marshals best of the Tri-Cities By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
Science & Technology
BlockChyp payment terminals adapt alongside Tri-City businesses Page A11
Nonprofits
As financial disaster looms, Mid-Columbia nonprofits turn to road trips, drawings and more Page A23
Real Estate & Construction
Now Richland is getting luxe waterfront apartments Page B1
NOTEWORTHY “The number of merchants we have and the volume we’ve done has quintupled since Covid started. We’re just astonished.”
-Jeff Payne, BlockChyp, chief technology officer
Page A11
When Kennewick’s Trios Health was sold to a for-profit company in 2018, the managers of the Trios Foundation were left in a pickle. The nonprofit had $2.2 million in assets, lots of worthy targets for donations, and no home. Led by Pete Toolson, the board considered its options. Several worthy charities wanted the cash, but not the strings that came with it. In the end, it chose the Three Rivers Community Foundation as the new home. Trios Foundation became the Family Health and Wellness Foundation and its money was deposited into the Three Rivers’ investment fund. Its mission to support eight specific charities with the interest it earns stayed intact. “We felt 3RCF was a good home for the money,” Toolson said. The hospital foundation disbanded after the money was transferred. Three Rivers Community Foundation, or 3RCF, is the foundation’s foundation. It was created in 1999 by civic-minded Tri-Citians who united to create a unique organization to manage a pool of donations to support the Mid-Columbia’s nonprofits in perpetuity and to help would-be philanthropists carry out their wishes. It’s also stepped up to help during the pandemic by launching an emergency response fund to support nonprofits affected by the coronavirus shutdowns. Today, it boasts $6.1 million in assets and helps Tri-Citians — and Tri-City businesses — manage charitable funds, scholarships and pool their resources to support churches, health initiatives, food banks, arts organizations, animal charities and many other nonprofits. While United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties leverages workplace donations to support nonprofits, 3RCF runs on individu3RCF, Page A31
Photo by Melanie Hair The Covid-19 pandemic sent a chill through the Tri-City commercial real estate market in March. Some business has returned but only outdoor dining is allowed in Benton and Franklin counties, leaving traditional indoor dining on hold. Above, diners wait for meals at Ninja Bistro at Columbia Gardens Urban Wine and Artisan Village in Kennewick.
Pandemic puts commercial real estate on pause in the Tri-Cities
By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
John Corbin is not happy. The Tri-City Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, a franchise he’s helmed for 38 years, closed in March when Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order to curtail the spread of coronavirus. Just 16 months earlier, he’d moved Chuck E. Cheese to a 14,000-square-foot state-ofthe-art building near Kennewick’s Vista Field, built at a cost of $4 million. Five months later, it’s still closed. Its 50 to 60 employees stayed on at first, courtesy of the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program loan, which covered salaries and other costs. They spent their time cleaning and painting the new building until the money ran out.
He wonders about his ability to reopen if inside dining doesn’t return to Benton County. “I have all my money invested in this and now I’m put out of business by the governor,” he said. The family-friendly restaurant is one of the many Tri-City businesses that remain dark during the pandemic, with futures that increasingly are being called into question. Local brokers agree the pandemic is taking its toll but offer an optimistic view that the commercial “pause” will give way to a solid recovery across all types of nonresidential commercial property — retail, office, industrial and even land sales. “I can’t tell you when we’re going to get back to normal. But once indicators are back, our market is going to take off. That will hap-
uPAUSE, Page A4
Tri-Citians paid half their property taxes in April. October could be another story By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
The property owners of Benton and Franklin counties didn’t miss a beat when it was time to pay property tax bills on some $31.5 billion in real estate in April, when the first of two payment deadlines came due. The county treasurers who collect taxes say collections were normal, despite widespread economic challenges inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the stay-home orders it inspired. But that’s just half the story. Property taxes payments are split, with due dates in the spring and fall for those who don’t pay property tax bills to mortgage companies. The second payment is due in about two months, Oct. 31. With the local economy still battered by the Covid-19 pandemic and stay-home orders that closed many local businesses, at least one local county treasurer is
concerned some won’t be able to meet their obligations. “I’m concerned about October, as are many of the treasurers in the state,” said Benton County Treasurer Ken Spencer. Treasurers collect property taxes, which are distributed to a variety of public entities. The state as well as counties, cities, schools, fire districts, ports and junior taxing districts all rely on property taxes to fund operations. In mid-July, Benton County had collected about 56% of the year’s total tax bill of $255 million. That’s typical for this time of year, Spencer said. But the first deadline came early in the pandemic, before the full economic damage came into focus. Five months later, the local unemployment rate was above 9% and a federal unemployuPROPERTY TAXES, Page A8
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