What

do Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business’ online readers love to read most?

It’s

always news about restaurants, developments and big contracts.

Stories

about the opening of a new Kennewick indoor playground for kids, a new

Brazilian steakhouse and taco restaurant, and a massive West Richland housing

development were among the stories receiving the most clicks this year.

Here

are our most-read stories of 2019 on tcjournal.biz:

1.

Indoor playground slides into vacant Kennewick building

(http://bit.ly/iplayopens): This January story profiled iPlay Experience,

a new three-story indoor playground at 8524 W. Gage Blvd., Suite B-110, next

door to Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Kennewick. It features slides, tubes and

other structures to crawl up, on and through.

2.

Get a bite of Brazil at steakhouse coming to Kennewick

(http://bit.ly/Boiada): The Tri-Cities’ first traditional Brazilian steakhouse,

Boiada Brazilian Grill, opened in May, a few months after our March story

announced its plans for the building at 8418 W. Gage Blvd. in Kennewick. It has

new owners. See story on page 53.

3.

New taco restaurant under construction in Richland (http://bit.ly/DelTacoTC):

A new Del Taco restaurant was under construction in June at 155 Wellsian Way in

Richland, near the north entrance of Fred Meyer. It’s now open.

4.

At Home décor superstore to open in Kennewick

(http://bit.ly/KennewickAtHome): A $2.6 million remodel made way for a new home

décor store inside the vacant Shopko store at 867 N. Columbia Center Blvd. in

Kennewick. This July story outlined the décor superstore’s plans in the

Tri-Cities.

5.

West Richland approves massive housing development on 148 acres

(http://bit.ly/WRdevelopment): We broke the story about a proposed housing

development that could increase West Richland’s population by about 15 percent

in September. The Heights at Red Mountain Ranch will add 563 single-family

residential lots on 148 acres, with the option of later adding 226 multi-family

homes on 36 more acres. The property is currently farmland on the west end of

West Richland.

6.

Richland company lands $24.5M Hanford contract

(http://bit.ly/AmericanElectric): U.S. Department of Energy contractor Washington

River Protection Solutions awarded a subcontract worth up to $24.5 million to

Joe Gonzalez’s Richland company. American Electric Inc. will provide general

electrical construction services at the Hanford tank farms. This story ran in

September.

7.

Low-income apartments moving ahead at Badger Mountain South

(http://bit.ly/CopperMt): Building permits and financing are in place for the

first apartments at Badger Mountain South in Richland. The complex will include

276 units for low-income tenants at 2555 Bella Coola Lane, south of the Country

Mercantile on Ava Way, near Trowbridge Boulevard. This story ran in February.

8.

Richland brewery owners to open dive bar (http://bit.ly/TheDivebar):

Bombing Range Brewing Co. owners announced plans to open The Dive at 2000

Logston Blvd. This story ran in June.

9.

Tri-City hotel mogul buys Kolzig mansion for $3.5M

(http://bit.ly/KolzigMansion): The prominent Tri-City mansion built by hockey

legend Olie Kolzig was sold to a local hotel mogul for $3.5 million. Gurbir

Sandhu, president of the hospitality group Ignite Hotels LLC, said bidding on

the home and 95 acres of undeveloped land was a “no brainer” as it could be

subdivided into future housing developments, according to our November story.

10.

Dilapidated Parkway property coming down (http://bit.ly/702Parkway): Big

plans are in the works for a building described as an eyesore in the heart of

Richland’s The Parkway, according to our June story. A group of six local

investors with Prospere Ventures bought the property and have already

demolished it to build a new building valued at more than $1.45 million. A

high-end craft bar called Moniker is planned, along with other usinesses.

Also topping this year’s most-read

online list was our calendar of the area’s holiday bazaars.