The Broetje Family Trust is turning to solar power and water recycling to help fulfill its stewardship mission as it builds a new home for its three nonprofits in east Pasco.

The $4.2 million, 30,000-square-foot building will house the trust’s three nonprofits, including a leadership academy with room for up to 60 students when it opens this summer.

The trust, established by orchardists Cheryl and Ralph Broetje to carry out the philanthropic work of their sprawling fruit empire, is building its new headquarters at 3713 E. A St. at Tierra Vida, the mixed-used community Broetje initiated in 2006 on a barren, vacant lot.

Chervenell Construction of Kennewick is the general contractor for the office project, which began in 2019.

Today, the Tierra Vida neighborhood is a lively mix of single- and multi-family homes with about 1,500 residents and a thriving community focus.

It has become the focus of the Broetjes’ nonprofit arm since the couple sold their fruit business, one of the largest apple producers in Washington, in late 2018 to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

The sale included Broetje orchards and its housing and marketing arms, but not Tierra Vida or the family trust.

The office will house about 32 employees of the three ministries – The Center for Sharing, Jubilee Foundation and the Vista Hermosa Foundation.

The Center for Sharing hosts a daily devotional service in its chapel. Vista Hermosa Foundation runs a leadership academy serving 10 students. It will have room to expand to 60 in the coming years, thanks to the classrooms, counseling areas and other education-friendly amenities.

Roger Bairstow, executive director, said the Broetje Family Trust’s longtime architect is accustomed to adapting to meet its unique needs. The headquarters project, which is called the Jubilee Foundation headquarters on official documents, is designed by DLC Architecture, based in Vancouver, Washington.

The design balances the need to secure the building to protect students and staff and the trust’s mission to present a welcoming face to the community.

The green touches include a large system of solar panels that will offset 40% of its power use as well as a rainwater reclamation system and native plantings.

The trust is not pursuing formal certification through the U.S. Green Building Council or other ratings program. It viewed the investment as good for business and good for its core mission.

The Broetjes have long infused their faith in their business and philanthropic efforts. That includes thoughtful stewardship of people and places, Bairstow said. It is captured in the trust’s mission statement, “Bearing fruit that will last” through the three foundations.

“This is very much rooted in our legacy. Ralph is a farmer. The strength of an orchard is in the soil,” Bairstow said. “We’re trying to do our best.”

The stewardship ethos will inform the way the occupants use the building in the future.

Bairstow said it will be deliberative about influencing the behavior of the building’s users. It is evaluating recycling and composting programs.

The solar system was installed by Hot Solar Solutions, a Burbank company led by Troy Woody. It consists of 240 panels in six groupings on the building’s six angular roofs. It is the largest commercial project to date for Hot Solar Solutions and a sign of growing local interest in solar energy.

“Commercial is really starting to kick in,” he said.

Woody energized the system on
May 3, which means solar energy will help power construction through the end of the project.

The 93.6-kilowatt system can produce 110,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to offset 40% of its power usage, equal to removing eight cars from the road, or growing 23,000 tree seedlings for a decade.

The building will scrimp on water too, thanks to low-flow plumbing fixtures and by capturing rainwater in underground tanks to irrigate the water-friendly landscape, which will feature native plants accustomed to the parched desert climate.

Jubilee Foundation ran a residential Leadership Academy that served 2,500 boys from 1995-2018. Jubilee established Tierra Viada in 2005, eventually expanding to include 250 single-family homes and 130 apartments.

Bairstow notes the east Pasco site was tangled and overlooked. That is why it was chosen, he said.

The Center for Sharing carries out the Broetje’s faith initiatives by running what it calls a “third” space at Tierra Vida, space outside of work or home for people to gather and connect.

Vista Hermosa Foundation provides education and support to children in underserved communities.

The original Vista Hermosa community transferred to the new owners when Broetjes sold the orchard business and the foundation moved to Pasco to carry on its mission.