The long-awaited Mid-Columbia Children’s Museum has found its future home.

Organizers of the grassroots effort have selected a 2.5-acre parcel for the future museum on Keene Road that’s across the street from West Richland’s city hall and Libby Middle School.

The choice follows a request for proposals launched earlier this year to assess the best options for the museum, which began development just over three years ago.

West Richland offered the property for a token lease of $0.78 per year for up to 150 years.

“West Richland really stood out,” Chelsea Blair, the museum’s board chair, told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. “They really put their best foot forward in the public-private partnership realm. They really want to be a partner.”

And the city is continuing to work to make sure the museum can be successful and serve the entire Mid-Columbia, working with Ben Franklin Transit to establish a bus stop and route to connect the museum with the other cities and pursuing additional acreage for the project.

“This will enhance our position as the best place in the quad cities to live, work and visit,” West Richland Mayor Fred Brink told the Journal, referring to the Tri-Cities region.

Funding so far

Community members came together in early 2023 to create a permanent and accessible children’s museum to serve Tri-Cities families. Since that time, they have raised roughly $400,000 via donors and an annual 5K/1K event; built sample exhibits and activities that volunteers have taken to events across the region; and secured $1 million in state funding for pre-concept and schematic design of a tentatively 25,000-square-foot museum.

Finding a location was necessary for the project to continue, Blair said. Various municipalities had courted the project in the past year, including the city of Pasco for its Broadmoor development, the city of Richland for Bradley Landing in the Columbia Point area, and the Port of Kennewick’s Vista Field.

The group hired a builder’s representative to help guide the process, and it recommended a request-for-proposals process to be fair and transparent. The Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC) and Visit Tri-Cities assisted throughout, including reviewing proposals.

While West Richland met the minimum requirements of the request for proposals, such as providing at least 2.5 acres, Blair said the city’s offer was enticing for other reasons, such as the potential for helping to set the tone for growth in West Richland.

“We can be part of the story of that area, help make it family-friendly and be the anchor of the Belmont Business District,” Blair said.

The city of West Richland has been rapidly growing toward its western boundaries for years. Its population has grown along with it, 13% over the past five years to 18,430 people in 2025, according to state data.

Residential and commercial development also has been established on that end of town.

The city moved its City Hall campus and police department to the Keene Road corridor area, as did the Richland School District with Libby Middle School, its administration building and nearby Desert Sky Elementary. Benton REA recently opened its new headquarters there.

Gas stations, restaurants, a credit union and residential developments like the Heights at Red Mountain have followed, with more coming: the future Lewis & Clark development, Planet Fitness gym and more.

Organizers of the grassroots effort to establish a children's museum in the Tri-Cities have selected a 2.5-acre parcel for the future facility on Keene Road that’s across the street from West Richland’s city hall and Libby Middle School.

| Photo by Nathan Finke 

More museum land

The city’s nominal lease rate, which is based on the year Brink graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, was hard for museum organizers to pass up – as is the potential for additional acreage.

Brink said the West Richland City Council will consider Aug. 17 whether to buy 1.5 acres from a neighboring landowner to add to the museum’s parcel. The potential price of that acreage was not disclosed.

“The desire is to make sure they have sufficient space for future growth,” Brink said

Blair said the additional land will help the museum fulfill one of the biggest requests from community feedback for the project: sufficient outdoor recreational and educational spaces.

Destination draw

Kevin Lewis, president and CEO of Visit Tri-Cities, said his agency is excited about the children’s museum project and views it as an important piece of the region’s viability as a destination.

“From our perspective, families increasingly visit places that offer meaningful experiences for every generation, and a children’s museum gives visitors one more compelling reason to spend more time in our community,” he said in a statement to the Journal.

He added that it will also demonstrate the Tri-Cities’ suitability for future residents. 

“Communities compete for visitors the same way they compete for talent and investment,” Lewis said. “A children’s museum signals that we value learning, creativity, and families. Those are important qualities that make a place people want to visit, and ultimately, call home.”

Getting to work

City and museum officials acknowledged they now need to roll up their sleeves. Blair said her group will put out requests for qualifications for an architect and exhibit designer in the coming weeks. It will take about a year to design, which is when museum officials will re-engage the community for their input.

Then there’s the big task of financing the project. Even with successful fundraising efforts since the museum group formed, Blair said far more will be needed to build a museum matching community input and needs – roughly $30 million.

She said they don’t plan to seek that full amount from the community. Rather, they intend to pursue grants and government funding to pay for a large portion of the project. Community buy-in still will also be crucial for success, Blair said.

“It truly is a community project,” she said.