The city of Hermiston moved into its new city hall in stages beginning in early October.The eastern Oregon community’s new city hall was jointly funded by the city and Umatilla County.The county provided $3 million in exchange for first-floor space for a health department outpost. The city funded its share...
January 2023 and October 2024.Those are the dates to keep in mind as Pasco moves to build a $40 million, voter-approved aquatics center and possible community center.January 2023 is when a two-tenths of a percent sales tax kicks in to pay for the center. Pasco’s sales tax rate rises to...
An entrepreneurial couple and an experienced coffee shop leader plan to create the new “it” coffee chain in the Tri-Cities.The key ingredients to make it a success? An experienced staff. Quality coffee. Locally-made breakfast foods from Tsp Bake Shop and El Fat Cat Grill. Top-notch customer service.Swigg Coffee Bar opened...
The Washington Military Department is eyeing Richland for a new campus for its Youth Challenge Academy, a military-style residential school for at-risk teens.There are 40 National Guard Youth Challenge Academies in the U.S., but only one in Washington, in Bremerton. The program serves young men and women who have dropped...
Reser’s Fine Foods is making mashed potatoes and preparing to add capacity to produce more dishes at its new food processing plant in Pasco.The family-owned company showed off its new $120 million plant at 5526 N. Capitol Ave. in September.The plant began operating earlier in the summer but shut down...
Joann, the sewing and crafts retailer, is moving its Kennewick store to Columbia Center mall, where it is taking over a portion of the space vacated by Sears in 2019.The new store is set to open in April, depending on construction being completed on time, said Joan Davis, Kennewick store...
Darigold Inc. broke ground on its state-of-the-art milk-processing facility in north Pasco in early September.The $600 million plant will open in early 2024 with the capacity to process8 million pounds of milk per day, supplied by 100 dairy farms in the region. It will employ 200.Darigold first disclosed it had...
Minority homeownership is falling behind in WashingtonMore than 143,000 minority-led households would have to become homeowners to close the ownership gap between white and households that identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color, or BIPOC.The 2021 Washington Legislature funded formation of the Washington State Homeownership Disparities Work Group to...
Local Bounti Inc., the Montana-based ag tech startup, resumed construction of its $40 million greenhouse complex in east Pasco in September.The company paused the project in April, when it closed a deal to acquire the parent company of Pete’s, a California indoor grower.It disclosed plans to restart work in Pasco...
Foodies Brick and Mortar will relocate to Columbia Park after being displaced from its downtown Kennewick home by the devastating fire in the neighboring Cascade building in February.Foodies, led by Joanna Wilson, is leasing the 2,600-square-foot building from the city of Kennewick at the Columbia Park Golf Tri-Plex, 2701 Paul...
