Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

Richland has been named one of the best places for a second career in America!!!  This study was based off of

• Below-Average Unemployment
• Cost of Living
• Access to Medical Facilities and
• Recreational Opportunities

Many jobs are being creating in the Tri-City area thanks to WSU Tri-Cities and Pacific Northwest national Laboratory (PNNL).    The area also provides affordable homes and the availability of recreation.

Too see a list of available homes in the area, visit us at www.distinctiveprop.com.

New laboratory building for PNNL in Richland have been built with green technology and materials, and that in turn has earned PNNL with a gold certification level from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The Biological Sciences Facility and the adjoining Computational Sciences Facility were opened last fall and house about 300 employees. The materials used in the construction consisted of approximately 78% of recycled and because of the design concept that goes beyond standard building codes, there was a 35% savings on energy. Both of the buildings use heat to warm offices generated from the computer servers in the Computational Sciences Facility that would be wasted otherwise. The gold level certification is the 2nd highest status for the LEED program, and very few laboratories have reached that award level throughout the nation. PNNL deservedly should be proud of their accomplishment. Kudos to those green thinking individuals for their hard work and determination.

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.

Kennewick is among the elite housing markets in the country and home prices here are expected to increase through September 2011, according to ranking by CNNMoney.com of  ”best housing recovery bets” in the country. Home values here have increased 5.7 percent since 2006 and the median price of homes in Kennewick $172,000.

The report indicated that employment is strong in the Tri Cities with well paying jobs for engineers & scientists with an unemployment rate in December of only 8.1 percent, which is well below the national average.

The report can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/aPH6D8

Yes, Hanford is still the core of the Tri Cities economy but there is so much more happening here that generates revenue for the Tri City economy. In the last 2 decades, other businesses have developed and created the diversity this area needed badly.

In the past, the economy of the Tri Cities has been cyclic with extreme ups and downs depending on the funding provided to the Hanford employers. With the hard work of many individuals and organizations, the economy here has diversified to include major employers in the agricultural, food processing and health care industries, which have added the most significant growth and more stability to the Tri City area.

Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) have played a significant role in the job growth as well since they are the area’s largest single employer, with only 7 percent of their work being related to Hanford in 2009.

The Tri-Cities has established it’s own identify away from Hanford, and this has been supported by the increase of the population that has occurred over the last 10 years, without following the hiring trends at Hanford. We have become home to a diverse marketplace that will continue long past the cleanup at Hanford.

An energy conference in February could bring 800 people to the Tri-Cities and generate about $315,000 in visitor spending, officials with the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau said Tuesday.

Climate Solutions, facilitator of the annual Harvesting Clean Energy Conference, decided to hold the event at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick because of the Tri-Cities’ concentration of clean energy companies, said Rhys Roth, Climate Solutions’ director of strategic innovation.

The conference should run February 7-9. The Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau learned about a month ago the conference will be in the Tri-Cities, but released the information Tuesday after contracts were finalized.

A local steering group with members from the Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau, Benton PUD, Energy Northwest, Franklin PUD, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and other organizations worked for about a year with Climate Solutions to bring the conference to the Tri-Cities.

By December, the group was confident Climate Solutions would choose the Tri-Cities, said Gretchen Strother, director of sales for the Visitor & Convention Bureau.

Roth described the conference, which is in its 10th year, as an opportunity to foster rural economic development by bringing agriculture and clean energy production entities together.

The speeches and breakout forums are geared toward farmers, ranchers, and other rural landowners; agricultural organizations; public and private utilities; rural economic development leaders; local, state, federal and tribal officials; clean energy firms, consultants and supporters.

Each year, the conference’s location rotates between Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

From a business and utility standpoint, Debbie Bone-Harris of Franklin PUD, who worked with the steering committee, said the conference provides an opportunity for companies, organizations and individuals to collaborate on future energy projects.

For example, Roth said landowners can learn how to work with energy companies to get wind turbines on their land. Or organizations can learn how to better utilize biomass or solar energy.

From a tourism and visitor perspective, Visitor & Convention Bureau CEO and President Kris Watkins said the conference will showcase the Tri-Cities. “We’re always looking to promote activities in the Tri-Cities,” she said.

She hopes the hundreds of visitors plan future vacations to tour the area’s wineries or spend a weekend golfing. “The best marketing tool you can use is word of mouth.” Watkins said.

The conference last visited the Tri-Cities in 2002, Roth said, drawing about 200 people. Roth said the 700 to 800 expected visitors to the 2010 event would be a record.  “It’s sort of gradually grown each year,” he said.

Source: Tri-Cities Herald    www.harvestcleanenergy.org/conference