What’s being built there? Amazon, new hotel, private school and daycare center
Welcome to “What’s being built there?”
This regular feature gives brief explanations about local construction projects that prompt questions from Tri-City Herald readers.
Have a question? Let us know: news@tricityherald.com.
Kennewick
Resort at Hansen Park Community Center
7942 W. 10th Ave.
TMG Northwest, the Vancouver-based developer behind The Resort at Hansen Park, is constructing a three-story community center to serve tenants of its rental properties near Columbia Center Boulevard and West 10th Ave.
The 24,114-square-foot building has a construction value of $6.9 million.
Developers Dennis Pavlina and Carmen Villarma are developing the 18-acre mixed-use complex to include triplexes, two apartment complexes and a commercial development in the first phase.
Gas station and convenience store
8920 W. Clearwater Ave.
Site work has started for a new gas station and convenience store at the intersection of North Steptoe Street and West Clearwater, near a Kadlec clinic.
The project includes a gas station with four fuel pumps and eight vehicle positions, a 40,000-gallon underground tank and a 4,000-square-foot convenience sore with drive-thru window for food service.
The project is valued at $540,000, according to a building permit issued April 19.
Richland
Queensgate Transit Center
Queensgate Drive and Columbia Park Trail
Ben Franklin Transit is building a new transit center in south Richland to extend service.
The newest transit center is off Queensgate Drive and Columbia Park Trail, on Windmill Road at the existing Tulip Lane Park & Ride.
Construction started in May 2023, with the cost covered by a Washington State Department of Transportation grant.
The transit hub aims to create a western hub and to improve service to West Richland, Prosser, and Benton City. It will feature a bus lane, restrooms, real-time reader boards and connections to bike paths and nearby Interstate 182.
Flex Space Business Center
4401 Leslie Road
Grading work has started on a 15-acre site near Leslie Road and West Clearwater Avenue for an office/warehouse park that will be built in three phases. The project is referred to as “Leslie Road Richland Flex Space” in planning documents.
The first phase entails grading the site and building the first pre-engineered metal structure, which will be about 58,000 square feet. The second phase will add a comparable size building and the third will add a third, 78,400-square-foot building.
Matson Development is the developer.
Pasco
Amazon Distribution Center
5700 N. Capitol Ave.
Seattle-based Amazon and its development partner, Ambrose Property Group, have begun site work for a $25 million distribution facility next to the new Reser’s Fine Foods north of the King City truck stop.
Amazon.Com Services LLC paid $3.75 million for 25 acres in the Port of Pasco’s Pasco Industrial Center 395 (PIC395) and is using it to establish a “last-mile” facility to serve local customers. The building will have about 86,000 square feet. The construction value is $11.8 million.
Separately, Amazon is retrofitting one of its fulfillment centers near Sacajawea State Park into an “Inbound Cross Dock,” which will operate in tandem with the distribution center.
Together, the two facilities will employ 1,650 people.
West Richland
ABC Dino Academy
2885 Bombing Range Road
Site work has started for a new school near Kids World Child Care and the Islamic Center of Tri-Cities on Bombing Range Road.
Dino Academy will consist of a preschool/daycare, a drop-in center, an elementary school and a future middle school and vocational school.
The project is being developed by Syed Amir and will include three buildings to start, with two more contemplated in the future.
Building A will be 5,000 square feet and will house the preschool and daycare. Building B will be 3,600 square feet and will be a drop-in center. Building C will be 5,000 square feet and will serve elementary-aged children. Construction should be complete by spring.
After that, Amir intends to seek permits to build Buildings D and E, about 5,000 square feet each, to serve as a middle school and a vocational school.
Amir said the school aims to respond to mental health and other crises facing youth.
The school will emphasize character, morality, manners, truth, integrity and forgiveness, he told the Tri-City Herald.
Prosser
Sleep Inn Hotel
250 Merlot Drive
Choice Hotels has submitted plans for a 67-room “Sleep Inn” for review under state environmental regulations.
The 45,000-square-foot hotel will be three stores and will be on a 2.5-acre site on the south side of Merlot Drive, east of Chardonnay Ave.
Joe Kumar of Kennewick is the applicant for the hotel project. Construction could begin as early as June.
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