Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

The TRAC facility in Pasco is the place to be this April 28th and 29th if you are a small business owner. The Annual Bridging Partnership Small Business Symposium will take place over these   2 days and will teach business owners the “ins and outs” of partnering with Hanford contractors to pick up government business. The event is sponsored by PNNL, TRIDEC, DOE and the primary contractors of the Hanford area. There will be a 4-hour tour of the Hanford site on Wednesday and an expo with 100 vendors is included. The cost for the event is $75 is pre-registered prior to April 15.  More information is available by calling 509-735-1000.

Mark your calendars for April 10th & 11th this year – if you are in the market for a new home,  the Tri City Association of Realtors is sponsoring an Open House weekend in conjunction with the Realtors National Open House Weekend. The homes will be open somewhere in the timeframe of 11 a.m until 4 pm on both days. Last year’s event was a success with over 170 homes holding Open House events. Homes will be throughout Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and West Richland.

We in the Tri Cities have been incredibly fortunate not to have experienced the huge decline in the housing market as many communities have; in fact, the Tri Cities housing starts are blossoming with a 255 percent increase in building permits over last year.  Almost 300 new homes are under construction currently with nearly half of those being built in Pasco.

The Lady Riverhawks of Chiawana High School in Pasco defeated the Federal Way Eagles 43-40 for the state opening basketball game. We’re all wishing them luck against Auburn Riverside tonight.  Click here to read the play by play.

Liberty Tax Services are offering free tax help to Pasco & Richland educators, school employees and bus drivers for “Educator Appreciation Days” at their offices on Road 68 and queensgate from March 1-7.  Most educators spend their own money on supplies for thier classrooms and they could be eligible for a tax break for 2009 taxes.  Those eligible are educators teaching kindergarten through 12th grade teachers, instructors, counselor, principal or aide who spends at least 900 hours in a private or public school.

Creating an environment of cooperation among the 4 cities that encompass the Tri-Cities is the theme that local officials want to encourage, as they addressed the group that attended the 8th annual State of the Cities meeting on Wednesday, at the Tri City Regional Chamber of Commerce offices. Growth of the cities has put our area on the map, so to speak and each individual city has outlined the projects that they feel will add to the growth while benefiting it’s citizenry.

Richland has plans of widening Keene Road from Queensgate to West Richland, and adding a spray park to the Badger Mountain Community Park along Keene. They will also work in cooperation with Kennewick to reconstruct Steptoe Street and make a decision about the future location of the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center, among other projects.

Pasco, Kennewick and Richland will work in partnership on the studying the best location for the next bridge crossing the Columbia River.

Pasco officials and the Port of Pasco are looking into the development of the river shoreline east of the cable bridge, additional infrastructure as a support of future growth and industrialization, a $9 million water treatment facility, and the creation of a new overpass at Lewis Street.

Kennewick officials are looking for increased private development of the Vista Entertainment District and to the development of the Southridge area, which they expect will include 60% of the cities future growth.  The city is planning the Bridge-to-Bridge, River-to-Rail effort with the Port of Kennewick, which consists of a major overhaul of the property that lies between the blue and cable bridges.

West Richland is looking to expand the economic base and expand infrastructure between Red and Badger Mountains, and invest in tourism with regards to the wine industry as a way to add to the regional vision, and increase growth in that community.

In a time when costs to each municipality are increasing, funding from the state faces cuts, and the residents want more metropolitan projects, the officials in each city are optimistic about continued growth.  Let’s be optimistic along with them – Time will tell……..