By Wendy Culverwell and Kristina Lord

An urgent care-anchored strip mall is coming to West Richland alongside a pizza shop, a dog grooming salon and more.

Three Rivers Family Medicine, a Richland primary care office, will open a walk-in urgent care center serving patients in West Richland and points west in early 2023.

The Three Rivers clinic will anchor Bombing Range Plaza, a new  $2.7 million development coming to 1605 Bombing Range Road near Yoke’s Fresh Market, at Paradise Way.

The clinic will be the first satellite clinic for Three Rivers, a privately-owned family physicians’ office that has operated at 945 Goethals Drive in Richland for more than 20 years.

The urgent care clinic will offer true walk-in service, said Sue Chilcoat, practice manager. Chilcoat said she’s been frustrated when other urgent care clinics can’t offer same-day appointments.

“When I’ve worked in urgent care, it’s walk-in and you take everybody until the door closes,” she said. “That’s our premise, to give people opportunities for better health.”

The clinic is owned by the same group that operates Three Rivers but is its own limited liability company. It will open with a staff of about six, including a provider, Chilcoat said. The team will expand as the clinic picks up business.

Chilcoat said the location not only fills a need in West Richland but for the rural areas to the west as well, including Benton City and Prosser.

It will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will take all major insurance as well as Medicaid. It will have a radiology department and the ability to provide care and perform some procedures, such as sutures and splints.

Three Rivers offers a walk-in immunization clinic in Richland and does not plan to replicate it at the urgent care center, which will have six exam rooms, a laboratory and  X-ray and procedure rooms in its 3,284-square-foot leased space.

Papa Murphy's, groomer expansion

Its neighbors at Bombing Range Plaza will be Shannon’s Grooming, a dog grooming boutique, and the neighborhood’s first Papa Murphy’s Take ‘n’ Bake Pizza shop.

Croskrey Ventures LLC is the developer behind the project, which will consist of two 6,000-square-foot strip malls on the 1.22-acre site. Each building will have three suites.

Papa Murphy’s will move into space in the second strip mall on the site. The Vancouver, Washington-based take-and-bake pizza chain specializes in fresh-made pizzas and does not have ovens or freezers, giving it flexibility to occupy space that isn’t suitable for traditional restaurants.

Shannon’s Grooming of West Richland will move into a 1,800-square-foot suite next door to Three Rivers Family Medicine.

In fact, Shannon’s is the business that inspired Croskrey Ventures to develop the plaza in the first place.

The salon is co-owned by Matthew Croskrey and his wife, Shannon.

His dad is Nathan Croskrey. When the grooming business needed room to expand, the father and son formed the LLC and bought the property from Gesa Credit Union last year.

Matthew said the grooming business outgrew its space at 4900 Paradise Way in a strip mall just down the street from the development site. The corner at Bombing Range beckoned.

“It looked like a good piece of land on the corner,” Matthew said.

Shannon and Matthew credit the dog grooming with bringing them together.

Shannon was working at a grooming salon when Matthew brought in his standard poodle, Doug. The rest is history.

The couple bought a Pasco dog grooming business in 2018 and moved it to West Richland in 2019.

They are excited about designing their own space for the business. It will feature a grooming room, blow dry room and space to expand their retail offerings.

The business employs seven.

“Eventually, fingers crossed, we’ll have a grooming shop people will travel to with enough space to allow the business to grow,” Matthew said.

The couple’s plan includes creating a school to train dog groomers.

Nathan hopes to break ground on the project within weeks with completion in spring 2023.

The general contractor for the project is George Booth and Sons. The architect is Ed Luebben of WHL Architecture.

“It’s a great location, especially with Paradise (Way) punched through and with so much growth there. There’s not a lot of interior commercial development. It’s a captive location there,” Nathan said.

Another strip mall across street

And across the street from this future development plans are underway for another.

JLW Asset Management LLC – Lori and Jeff Wenner of Richland are the principals – recently paid $1.3 million for the 2 acres between Smitty’s Paradise Gas and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“We’re just in the planning stages now. It’s going to be commercial – food service and a coffee shop,” said Lori Wenner. The Wenners planned to meet with their architect and engineer on May 4.

The couple intend to build one or two strip mall buildings on the property.

“Building costs are so high right now. We may do it in phases,” she said, adding that finding an anchor tenant is a priority.

The couple recently sold their Queensgate Storage and RV business at 2373 Jericho Road in Richland. They expanded it in August 2019.

They weren’t planning to sell, but when a California-based brokerage firm approached them about listing the property, they had a buyer within 12 hours offering them full price. “Cap rates are so good right now,” Lori Wenner said.

The deal with BuxBear Storage closed March 30.

They’re investing proceeds from the business sale into the Bombing Range Road project. They also hope to close on 7 acres off Belmont Boulevard, also in West Richland. Lori Wenner said one potential use for that property could be a gas station.