MOD Pizza confirms it will open its second Tri-City location this summer. 

MOD, specializing in made-to-order pizza and salads, will be one of three businesses housed in a new strip mall taking shape in the parking lot of Columbia Center mall, the region’s largest retail center.  

Charlotte Wayte, spokeswoman for Seattle-based MOD Pizza, said the chain will lease 2,500-square-feet and expects to open in late August. 

MOD Pizza made its Tri-City debut in 2017 when it opened in Richland’s Queensgate Drive area. It indicated an interest in siting restaurants in all three cities. 

Its future home is little more than a snow-covered dent in the parking lot in front of the JCPenney store at the moment. 

Excavation began on a 7,363-square-foot building with room for at least one restaurant and a drive-thru, according to a building permit issued Dec. 17 by the city of Kennewick. 

The permit for the $700,000 project does not include interior build-outs for the eventual tenants. Those are typically issued once the main building is constructed.  

The project is being built in the parking lot of JCPenney. It will have a street address of 1659 N. Columbia Center Blvd. 

The site is at the north end of Columbia Center. 

BORArchitecture of Yakima designed the strip mall. Stephens & Sons Construction, also of Yakima, is building it. 

The site is fenced off and had been excavated as of Dec. 14. Surveyors were staking out the site as well. 

JCPenney operates a 160,000-square-foot store at Columbia Center, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019. The store underwent a minor remodel in May 2017 to add a Sephora.  

Editor's note: This story has been updated to confirm MOD Pizza as one of the tenants. (1/15/20)