Tri-City Area and Real Estate Blog

Smaller audiences in fewer seats at Kennewick’s Toyota Center will have a better view and a change to hear better at upcoming performances.

In the past, difficulty in seeing and hearing the productions have made some folks disappointed in the venue. It is hopeful that these changes will elicit a more positive response from the community.

The city of Kennewick has provided funding to make improvements, including new trussing for lighting and upgraded seating, along with new speakers and improvements in the sound system.

To see what upcoming productions will be for the 2009-2010 season, visit www.yourtoyotacenter.com.

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.

On August 31, there was a cyber race to push the “submit” button on the Washington Department of Revenue’s website.

Whoever is first in line will have first dibs on a $2.5 million pot of money offered expressly for local revitalization projects.

That’s $2.5 million a year, through the year 2035 – or $62.5 million in the long form.

Kennewick wants $500,000 and Richland wants $333,000. And who knows how many other cities and public agencies in the state want a share of the prize. The grant is unusual in that the agencies who submit qualified applications and are among the first to hit that electronic trigger will be rewarded.

“It’s first come, first served,” said Marie Mosely, Kennewick’s director of support services. The maximum grant is $500,000, which means there could be only five winners, theoretically. It all depends on how many ask for how much.

“It’s a challenge,” said Mosely, adding no one except the state has any idea how many agencies might be poised for the 9 a.m, cyber start.

“(State officials) have said they will be tracking this in milliseconds and that only one (submitter) will be processed at a time.” Mosely said.

The unusual way of awarding the grants is the state’s way of seeing how much interest there is in a Local Revitalization Financing Program. The Legislature authorized the pilot program this summer, giving little time for cities and other public agencies to prepare applications.

Basically, the state is offering a cash advance of up to $500,000 annually as seed money to public entities that promise to use the money to develop infrastructure that will promote growth of business and development and create jobs, which will in turn produce increased state tax revenues. In the long term, the state expects to recoup its investment through increased property and sales taxes.

Kennewick wants the $500,000 to help pay for bonds that would build roads and infrastructure in the Southridge area. It has the backing of the Port of Kennewick, Benton County and the Kennewick Public Hospital District, whose commissioners have agreed to give their share of expected property and sales tax revenues associated with the growth to help to pay for the improvements.

Mosely said Kennewick is counting on being among the winners, but won’t know the results for up to 60 days. The state has reserved two months of reviewing the applications and determining which of the first-in applicants deserve the grants, she said.

“We expect to get a time stamp, but we won’t know where we are in the line-up or if we won,” Said Mosely.

“It’s a lot of money and we’ve got a lot riding on it. If we don’t we get this, we will have to go back and start over,” she said.

Spread out over 25 years, Kennewick stands to collect $12.5 million.

Bill King, Richland deputy city manager, said the city wants to use the $330,000 to pay for $8.5 million in bonds to bring road, water, sewer and broadband improvements to the research district, business park and industrial park in North Richland,

Richland’s city council voted to pursue the Local Revitalization Financing Program after learning about Kennewick’s plan for the Southridge area.

Source: Tri-City Herald

Source: Herald staff:

Tuesday Sept. 1:

Kennewick Irrigation District, 9 a.m., 12 W. Kennewick Avenue., Kennewick: discuss formation of the Red Mountain South Local Improvement District and receive an update in executive session about the process to interview applicants for the secretary-manager’s job.

Kennewick City Council, 6:30 p.m., 210 W. Sixth Ave.: workshop to hear a financial update on the first quarter of the biennium and a presenation on a proposal for regional facilities in the Tri-Cities that could bring an aquatics center and a performing arts center to the community. A regular meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. to approve a consent calendar and an ordinate establishing policy for reimbursement on infrastructure costs from owners who develop their properties after improvements have been installed.

Richland City Council, 7 p.m., council chambers, city hall, 505 Swift Blvd., library artwork, Bradley Boulevard alignment, Duportail bridge and Lee Boulevard improvements.

Wednesday Sept 2.

Franklin County Commission, 9 a.m., courthouse, 1016 N. Fourth Ave., Pasco: meeting canceled.

The city of Richland on Tuesday (August 25) took another step toward applying for a state program that would help pay for new development north of the Richland Airport.

The program would generate revenue to pay for $8.5 million in public improvements in Richland’s Revitalization Area for Industrial Science and Education, or RAISE.

The area encompasses the Horn Rapids Industrial Park, Horn Rapids Business Center, a portion of the Tri-Cities Research District and the Port of Benton.

If the Department of Revenue approves the city’s application into the program, the state would pay up to $327,000 annually — half the debt service on 20-year bonds to install streets, sidewalks, sewers, utilities and fiber-optic lines in the area. The city, likely with participation by Benton County and the Port of Benton, would provide a local match to cover the other half.

The project wouldn’t increase local tax rates, but 0.05 percent of the 8.3 percent sales tax rate in Richland would be shifted from the state’s share to the city’s share.

The city council on Tuesday voted unanimously to create the revitalization area, and the Benton County Commission on Monday voted 2-1 to pursue partnering with the city on the project.

Commissioner Max Benitz Jr. dissented because the port, though interested, hasn’t yet committed to participating, and he didn’t want to obligate it to. The port will be able to decide whether to join sometime after the Sept. 1 application date, but the county agreed to partner with the city to strengthen its application for the program.

The state, city, county and port would use tax revenue generated from new development within the area to pay back the bonds. The county and port’s contributions each would be capped at $73,000 a year.

The revitalization area would need to have about $155 million in new private development to generate that amount of new tax revenue, Gary Ballew, economic development manager for Richland, told the city council last week. There has been that much private investment in the area over the past five years, he said.

If no private development came into the area — and no new tax revenue was generated — the city could use other sources to cover the local match and keep the state contribution. But the city would be on the hook for the local match on its own, without the county or port having to contribute.

Several businesses such as Henningsen Cold Storage and Solaris group already have contacted the city about doing new private development in the area. Those projects were in the works regardless of the chance to be in the state’s program, Ballew said.

But they would be able to happen sooner because of the revenue the program would generate to pay for the public infrastructure, he said.

Council members expressed comfort with the risks involved with the project.

“The projects we would do with this kind of funding are projects we would have in the queue anyway and we want to do at some point in time,” Councilman Ed Revell said. “The only thing this does is allow us a tool to start those projects sooner.”

Source: Tri-City Herald

Source: Tri-City Herald

Kennewick could have its long-desired convention center hotel with a real estate deal approved Tuesday by the city council.

The council agreed on a real estate sales and purchase agreement with The Provost Group of Santa Rosa, California, for 2.25 acres the city decided three weeks ago that it would offer for sale. The agreed upon price is $563,482.

Jeff Kossow, Kennewick’s economic development directed, said The Provost Group wants the property developed as a multi-story headquarters hotel, which would be adjacent to the Three Rivers Convention Center in the Vista Entertainment Center. The sales agreement allows 180 days for the purchaser to investigate development options.

The hotel would have all the amenities necessary for a headquarters hotel that serves the convention center. The agreement calls for a restaurant, bar, room service, fitness room and pool. A $5,000 deposit secures the sale agreement.

The Provost Group must submit building plans within six months after closing and begin construction within 18 months of closing. The city has the right to take back the property if conditions of the agreement are not completed according to the timeline.

The two-acre sale agreement follows a similar deal by The Provost Group with the city in May for nine acres, also in the Vista Entertainment District near the convention center. The property has not yet been developed.

The Provost Group also cemented a sales agreement earlier Tuesday for 15 acres owned by the Kennewick Irrigation District in the same area. That gives the Santa Rosa property development and management company control of about 27 acres in the Vista Entertainment District.

“This is an exciting time for those of us who’ve been involved with the convention center,” said councilman Steve Young. He was on the Kennewick Facilities District Board of Directors eight years ago when it was created to design, build and open the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.

Young said the original vision to have a headquarters hotel next to the convention center is finally becoming reality.

Kossow said representatives of The Provost Group have already contacted national hotel chains. “They want to move quickly on this,” he said.

Kossow said the deal has been several years in the making. Kennewick city staff contacted The Provost Group during an International Shopping Centers Conference: “We knocked on their door, and they answered,” he said.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the council:

– Approved a resolution creating a Southridge Revitalization Area of about 1,600 acres and authorized the City Manager Bob Hammond to negotiate agreements between the city, Port of Kennewick, Benton County and Kennewick General Public Hospital District to participate in a Local Revitalization Financing Program sponsored by the state.

The program offers up to $500,000 a year in tax revenues for up to 25 years to the city to help build infrastructure in the Southridge area that would promote growth of business and jobs.

The county and hospital commissioners have said they are willing to give their share of expected property and sales tax revenues associated with the growth to help pay for the improvements.

Port commissioners are supportive but have reservations about how their contribution would be spent. The Port of Kennewick decided earlier Tuesday to opt out of the revitalization financing program.

The port would have to fork over $350,000 in future property taxes within the Southridge area to help prepare the area for development. But the port unanimously decided it didn’t want to participate without knowing how its share would be spent, said Tim Arntzen, the port’s executive director.

Part of the revitalization area includes land the port sold to a developer in 2006, and the port can’t legally spend money to provide infrastructure to that land, he said. The developer of South Ridge Village agreed to put in roads, sewer, water and electric lines as part of the purchase agreement for the port’s 150 acres, Arntzen said.

The port may reconsider joining the revitalization area if it can sign an interlocal agreement with Kennewick spelling out the Southridge infrastructure development plans more clearly, Arntzen said. The port would like to have more control on how its share is used, he said.

Dean Maldonado, who with his partners owns more than 200 acres in Southridge, said finding financing for infrastructure in the current economy is extremely difficult. Kennewick needs to have the interlocal agreements completed in time to apply for the state’s Local Revitalization Funding program Sept. 1

The maximum that could be handed out would be five grants of $500,000 each, which will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, said Marie Mosely, the city’s director of support services.

Councilman James Hempstead noted that if the city is successful, the grant will help develop the Southridge area without having to impose new taxes on Kennewick citizens. “It’s good for the state as well,” said Mosely, who explained that by fronting money to the city for the development, the state will receive new sales taxes that come from the new businesses.