Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

A unique new landmark will soon grace the gateway to Clover Island in Kennewick and bring a special feel from the past to historic downtown Kennewick. 

The $1 million dollar project has been a work in progress for several years by the city of Kennewick and will finally get underway this month, thus bringing together the ambiance of the past and the function of the future – aiding the U.S. Coast Guard with navigation along that part of the Columbia River.

After completion and permiting, the lighthouse will offer visitors a chance to climb to the top and take in the view along the river. The improvements will also include a public plaza with plantings and seating. A graceful arch will be placed at the entrance to Clover Island with welcoming signage.

Our beautiful Tri-Cities has grown so much over the last few years and the wine industry has been a large part of that growth.  Below are some of the wonderful wine events upcoming in our communities. Please take a look and schedule yourself a little jaunt to these festivals and sample all that our Mid-Columbia Wine Country has to offer.

September 26 & 27: Catch the Crush, Tri-Cities/Benton City. This 23rd annual event is a lot of fun with many activities, including grape stomps, harvest and crush activities, winery tours, free-run juice, hors d’oeuvres, wine tasting and live music. Find out about all the fun at www.columbiavalleywine.com

November 6 & 7: Tri-Cities Wine Festival, Kennewick. This event is one of the Northwest’s oldest and will be held at the Three Rivers Convention Center this year. Lots of competition amongst wineries, and loads of camadraderie as well. For more information go to www.tricitieswinefestival.com.

November 13 & 14: Savor the Flavor, Pasco. Tri-Cities wine and food come together to benefit the Oasis School. For more info go to www.tastetricities.com/savor.

Today 9/09

Benton County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., Washington State University Extension office, Benton County Annex, 5600 W Canal Dr.: discuss budget for the operation of the Moderate Risk Waste Facility, grant funding for 2010-2011, status of the organics study.

Pasco School Board, 6:30 pm, Booth building, 1215 W. Lewis St.: discuss opening student enrollment and the 2010 levy election.

Kennewick School Board, 5:30 pm, administration building, 524 S Auburn: discuss the levy timeline, architect selection update, Fourth Avenue Center timeline, elementary modernization timeline and a second reading of a policy on high school graduation requirements.

Thursday 9/10

Port of Pasco Commission, 9:30 a.m., commission chambers, 904 E Ainsworth Avenue: update on the Tri-Cities Airport Business Center.

Richland Parks and Recreation Commission, 7 p.m., city hall council chambers, 505 Swift Blvd: capital facilities projects and recommendations for 2010 budget; recommendation to fund cultural study for the Howard Amon Park irrigation project.

Ben Franklin Transit, 7 p.m., Three Rivers Transit Center, 7109 W Okanogan Place, Kennewick, to discuss petition from Prosser residents.

Wine, golf and outdoor attractions are helping attract visitors to the sunny Tri-Cities despite a nationwide crimp on travel budgets.

Instead of flying off to exotic locations, most people are exploring areas close to where they live, or a destination that they can afford, said Kris Watkins, president and chief executive officer of the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau, which recently released its mid-year report.

In the first six months of the year, the Tri-Cities held 106 conventions and sporting events that brought thousands of people to the community, generating about $15.9 million.

The bureau staff helped create business leads that could translate into 26,229 room nights for local hotels, and secured 72 future conventions and sporting events that infused $9 million in direct visitor spending into the local economy, the report says.

At a time when most places are seeing a decline in the number of visitors, the Tri-Cities is fortunate to have in and out-of-state visitors coming for pleasure or business trips or to attend conventions and sporting events such as Water Follies, Watkins said.

“Flat is good in this economy,” she said, adding the Tri-Cities saw exceptional growth in tourism traffic from 2005-08.

Earlier in the year, the bureau launched an ad campaign along the Interstate 5 corridor to help draw visitors from the west side of the state, and partnered with the Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau and Washington Wine Country, to promote the area as a wine destination, Watkins said.

The bureau also printed and distributed 72,000 brochures highlighting “Great Golf Getaways” at various travel and golf shows. Since January, the bureau helped promote the Tri-Cities in more than 130 media stories.

“We’ve been called the romantic getaway, golf getaway, and wine getaway, said Megan Neer, director of marketing and public relations.

She said that the bureau plans to use its freshly designed website, and social networking sites to keep up the momentum. The bureau has 200 followers on Twitter and about 2,500 fans on Facebook, she said.

The competition for travel dollars has become intense, said Neer and Watkins.

That means target marketing of the Tri-Cities and its special attractions – water, weather, and wine, Watkins said.

In the last few years, the bureau’s financial and marketing support has helped sustain and promote Water Follies, the Tri-Cities’ signature event, which brings in positive media exposure throughout the Northwest and nationally, she said.

B Reactor’s new status as a National Historic Landmark also will help promote the region. The Tri-Cities is known for open spaces, easy road and air access, and the availability of two high-quality convention centers and comparatively affordable hotel rooms, she said.

Last year, the average room rent in Benton and Franklin counties ranged from about $66 a night to about $80. The number of available hotel rooms has gone up from about 2,200 in 1991 to more than 3,400 in 2009.

Watkins said a proposed convention center hotel adjacent to the Three Rivers Convention Center is welcome news. It’ll mean the bureau will be able offer potential clients a choice of a large block of guest rooms, instead of spreading out guests in hotels across the Tri-Cities.

Source: Tri-City Herald

Tri-Citians can help shape the future of Columbia Drive by taking an online survey and sharing their thoughts.

The input will help consultants hired by the Port of Kennewick develop a plan for 28 acres of riverfront south of Clover Island to spruce up the area and the shoreline between Clover Island and the cable bridge.

The survey, put together by Kennewick’s Arculus Design & Technical Services, is available at www.arculus.net. Click on projects and then on Columbia Drive Revitalization Plan.

The site also offers a downloadable copy of the draft plan, which proposes having an IMAX theatre, gondola, ice skating rink and lawn bowling court in the revitalized downtown area near Clover Island.

A carousel, amphitheater, condos, and restaurants are some of the other proposed features. The plan also shows many options, such as walking paths, wildlife viewing and paddleboat rentals, to enhance the charm of Duffy’s Pond and Catfish Island.

It’s about revitalizing downtown Kennewick and helping it become a destination in the next decade or so, port officials say.

It’ll reinvigorate the area, help the downtown identify itself and give community members something to readily connect to, said Steve Mallory, principal architect at Arculus.

The Arculus team continues to give presentations to community leaders and stakeholders to solicit ideas to take the project forward, he said.

Rep, Larry Haler, R-Richalnd, recently suggested potential funding options for the project after a presentation, Mallory said.

Ben Franklin Transit’s suggestion to have a transit center will be incorporated into the next draft plan, said Chris Baugh, project lead for Arculus. It’ll be on the southeast end of Columbia Park, he said.

A suggestion to have a pedestrian walkway on Washington Street to connect to historic downtown also will be included on the next draft, Mallory said.

The idea behind the survey is to get everyone involved and tweak the plans as needed, he said. “We’re completely open.”

A link to the survey is also available at the Port of Kennewick website at www.portofkennewick.org.

Source: Tri-City Herald

The national economic slowdown is seemingly catching up with the Tri-Cities if the latest job numbers are any indication.

But despite losing 800 nonfarm jobs in July, the Tri-Cities is the only major community in the state to see job growth in the last year, said Dean Schau, regional labor economist.

Most of the monthly job losses were in construction, financial services, education and health services and the public sector, he said.

Also, modest gains were reported in professional and business services, manufacturing, retail and the trade, transportaion and warehousing sector last month.

That helped bring down the unemployment rate in the Tri-Cities from 6.7 percent in June to 6.1 percent in July.

Since July 2008, the Tri-Cities gained 1,300 nonfarm jobs, an increase of nearly 1.4 percent, Schau said.

About 68,000 nonfarm jobs were lost over the year in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett metro area, he said. And, Tacoma lost 13,500 nonfarm positions and Spokane was down 12,100 nonfarm jobs, bringing the tally of lost nonfarm jobs in the state to about 125,000.

The year-over-year numbers are a better indicator of economic trends, Schau said, adding the core of the Tri-Cities’ economic health lies primarily in agriculture production, food processing and electricity generation that provide consistent employment opportunities.

“We’ve an absolutely great economy to go into this recession,” he said. Yet, a lot of people, particularily in construction, real estate and finance are hurting, adding to the number of jobless workers in the community.

Amazon.com held a job fair Tuesday in Kennewick to hire seasonal help, said Candice Bluechel, business services outreach manager at WorkSource Columbia Basin.

But otherwise hiring in the retail industry has remained slower compared with last year, she said, adding that many local retailers didn’t hire lots of workers for the back to school shopping season.

Cosumers have been cutting back on major purchases like cars and appliances, which may explain the loss of about 400 jobs in the retail sector since July 2008, Schau said.

The federal stimulus programs like Cash for Clunkers are helping the local economy, but they haven’t immediately translated into jobs, Bluechel said.

WorkSource has about 600 job openings, and 300 of them came in July, she said. Most are farm-related jobs for laborers, mechanics, and truck drivers, she said. Also, employers continue to look for technical writers, invoice clerks and office support staff.

The Tri-City economy definitely is in better shape compared with other regions of the nation, she said, adding she doesn’t know how it’ll play out longer term. “I’m going to be conservative ’til I see what happens to holiday hires,” Bluechel said.

Yearly gains of about 200 jobs were reported in the food processing industry, 600 jobs in professional and business services and 100 in trade, transportation and warehousing, Schau said.

Major declines came in construction with a loss of 1,100 jobs since July 2008. The financial services sector lost 300 jobs in the same period.

The number of unemployed workers in Benton and Franklin counties increased from 6,450 in July 2008 to 8,180 last month. In contrast, the number of unemployed workers in Washington went up from 178,200 to 315,850 in the same time.

The state’s unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point, from 9.2 percent in June to 9.1 percent in July, said Dave Wallace, a labor economist with the Washington Employment Security Department. It was partly helped by the gain of an estimated 4,000 nonfarm jobs last month. “(But) it’s too early to call it a trend (of recovery.)” he said.

Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee said though the July numbers show the recession is slowing. “We expect to see some ups and downs for some time to come.”

Source: Tri-City Herald