Mail by the Mall, the feisty, independent mailbox business in the path of the future Center Parkway extension, has moved.

The business started by Laurie McCoy and her late mother Dee is staying true to its name after moving into leased quarters “by the mall” at 1360 N. Louisiana St., Suite A. The new spot is near Olive Garden, Artfetti Cakes and the AMC Classic 12 movie theater.

“My name is ‘Mail by the Mall,’ so I had to be close to the mall,” said Laurie McCoy, whose family agreed to sell the old location, 8220 W. Gage Blvd., to the city of Richland in January for $745,000 through an eminent domain action.

It was one of several parcels the city purchased in its bid to connect Center Parkway to Tapteal Drive across Port of Benton-owned railroad tracks.

Richland, the lead on the $6 million project, took possession of the building and will award a road-construction contract in early August. The contract will include demolishing the now-vacant building.

The new road could be open next spring, linking Gage Boulevard to Tapteal Drive near Columbia Center mall.

But for Mail by the Mall, the only thing left at the old location is a sign in the window steering customers to the new one.

“I mailed in the keys,” she said.

The property also was the longtime home of McCoy’s Distributing, established in 1972 to supply pull tabs, bingo and casino supplies. Dan McCoy, Laurie McCoy’s brother, took over the business from their father and has moved it to the Vista Field area.

He said the process went smoothly.

20 years of battles

The McCoy family first learned of the Center Parkway extension plan more than 20 years ago and it cast a long shadow over the businesses, particularly when the private railroad operator fought and lost the crossing.

Tri-City Railroad was evicted from the tracks in June after it lost a case in Benton County Superior Court over lack of track maintenance.

Laurie McCoy tracked the project over the course of two decades, accumulating a thick file of news clippings and documents related to the extension and the various legal battles it spawned.

Each time she planned updates to the business, the Center Parkway plan would rear its head. Each time it was featured in the news, customers for the Mail by the Mall’s private mailboxes would decamp, thinking the end was in sight.

The McCoys enlisted legal counsel to advise them through the eminent domain process but did not sue over the loss of their property.

“We knew it was coming. We weren’t going to fight it,” she said.

Extension plans

The cities of Richland and Kennewick partnered on the Center Parkway extension in 2001. The parkway dead ends on either side of the railroad tracks, creating awkward access to Tapteal Drive. Awkward but not impossible. Furniture stores, retailers and hotels have been built on the stretch above Highway 240.

But an additional 33 acres are undeveloped, and the two cities see punching Center Parkway through as a way to improve traffic around Columbia Center and boost commercial development. An estimated $200 million in development could follow and 900 jobs, Richland says.

Laurie McCoy is skeptical that traffic will be improved by a street that crosses working railroad tracks. She predicts cars will back up on the short stretch of Center Parkway between the roundabout at Gage Boulevard and Tapteal Drive whenever a train goes by.

Origin story

For the McCoy family, selling the old property is bittersweet.

The late Pat McCoy, Laurie’s and Dan’s father, bought the property as an investment long before Columbia Center had neighbors. An aerial photo shows the mall surrounded by desert and little else.

Pat McCoy predicted the area would “explode.” Gage Boulevard today is flanked by retailers, including Costco, restaurants, business parks, strip malls and residential developments, including apartment complexes.

“Sure enough, he was right,” Laurie said.

Mail by the Mall is the indirect result of a lucrative mail order business Pat McCoy built out of his hobby collecting old-time radios.

His daughter remembers growing up in north Richland stuffing envelopes and accompanying her mother on endless trips to the Richland post office to ship packages.

Dee McCoy noticed a proliferation of Mail Boxes Etc., a franchised mailboxes and shipping business that later became The UPS Stores.

She was intrigued and asked her daughter her thoughts. Laurie had earned degrees in business and psychology and had years of experience in retail.

The mother-daughter team decided to make a go of it, opening Mail by the Mall as an independent store in 1994 on the family-owned property. The father-son team of Pat and Dan ran the distribution business in a 4,000-square-foot warehouse at the rear of the building.

Mail by the Mall shipped 14 packages the first day, catering to customers from the mall and nearby Meadow Springs, the only residential neighborhood in the area at the time.

New location

Today, Mail by the Mall handles thousands of packages during the busy holiday season. Laurie McCoy said she moved in June when business was at a seasonal low.

She said the new spot is smaller than the old one and since it is leased, the operations costs are higher.

She said she would know by the busy holiday shopping season if the move made financial sense. But even as she and her store manager, Ashley Bobiles, were still setting up the new store, a stream of customers stopped by to drop off packages.

Like her brother, she credited the city of Richland with being a good partner in facilitating the move.

The city has advertised for bids on the Center Parkway extension as it shifts from planning to actual construction. Construction will cost an estimated $2.1 million, with $4 million already spent on design, litigation and land acquisition.

The Benton County Rural Capital Fund is paying much of the cost. On July 5, the Richland City Council approved a $1.6 million allocation toward the $2.1 million construction costs. The fund previously provided $1 million to support planning and land acquisition.

Construction is expected to begin in late summer or early fall, with progress subject to added rules governing construction at railroad crossings. The city expects the new three-lane road to debut in spring 2023.