A high-end craft bar will open in a new

Richland Parkway building next year after crews made short of work of

demolishing the space that’s languished unoccupied for years.

The site at 702 The Parkway—which shares a

courtyard with Frost Me Sweet, near the fountain—is almost ready for

construction planned at the site, which will include a high-end craft cocktail

bar called Moniker.

Work on a new $1.45 million building is

expected to begin soon, with anticipated completion in late winter or early

spring 2020.

“This is a challenging project with a lot of variables to manage,” said Casey Stratton, one of six local investors with Prospere Ventures, the group behind the project. “It’s a very old building with remediation efforts. The building was completely connected with Greenies. And it’s a tight space with George Washington Way and The Parkway on both sides.”

Additionally, the Richland Farmers Market in

The Parkway every Friday adds to the logistical challenge.

“There are always a few unknowns,” Stratton

said.

In a prepared statement, the owners of

Moniker said the cocktail lounge “aims to bring the best of cocktail culture

into the Tri-Cities. The space itself is designed to be a community gathering

place with a focus on people first.” It is being started by Tri-City natives

Tyler Stevens, Meg Stevens and Erin Stevens.

The owners describe a vibe that is “simple

and modern,” serving a curated cocktail menu that includes classics and

originals with food offerings that are “seasonal, local and vegetable centric.”

“For us, it’s about community. When we think

about the places we’ve traveled and the time we’ve shared with friends and

strangers alike, it’s always centered around great drinks. With Moniker, we

want to provide that perfectly unique cocktail that sparks a conversation and a

friendship. That’s our passion,” Stevens said.

The cocktail bar has a targeted opening of

spring 2020 and the owners expect to hire five to 10 employees to fill its

staff.

Stratton said demolition on the 702 The

Parkway building took a bit longer than planned because the group recycled all

the wood and metal from the building for both environmental and economic

reasons.

Prospere bought the building for $288,000 in 2014 and had originally planned to renovate it. But it didn’t make financial sense to try to rehab the World War II-era building.

The proposed replacement is a

5,500-square-foot, single-story structure that could hold three tenants.

Architectural renderings show a brick façade

and metal awnings on the new building.

Besides Moniker, it’s expected a business or

service organization will move into the largest space available and a coffee

shop into the smallest.

Prospere Ventures received $30,000 from the city of Richland through its commercial improvement program to put toward exterior improvements.

Money from the city needs to be spent within

the calendar year it is awarded, so the exterior is targeted for completion by

the end of the year.

The contractor on the project is Booth &

Sons Construction.