The Tri-Cities saw several long-awaited and highly anticipated commercial projects finally completed in the past year: Costco, Amazon and Darigold. 

The list also includes the region’s first Chick-fil-A, which opened in Kennewick with great fanfare, drawing long lines and requiring traffic detours.

So what big projects are on the horizon? The top 20 commercial projects over the past year have surpassed $389 million in total value, representing a 25% increase compared to the previous year, and they include a healthy mix of public, retail, multifamily housing, health care, hospitality and farm projects.

Kirt Shaffer, co-owner of Tippett Co. in Pasco, which specializes in industrial, commercial and agricultural real estate, said there’s “a lot of activity, a lot of optimism.”

Between Hanford’s continuing role in the economy, expansion in agricultural and industrial areas, lower interest rates and inflation being kept in check, “my perception is that the Tri-City market is on a good, healthy growth trend,” Shaffer said. “It’s my belief that it’ll continue to grow.”

That sense of momentum also can be seen in sectors that require substantial infrastructure and long-term investment.

Karl Dye, president and CEO of the Tri-City Development Council, or TRIDEC, said there’s been a lot of interest in the last six months in building artificial intelligence data centers, which need plenty of power, as well as water and land.

Top projects

Among the top building projects around the Tri-Cities between August 2024 to August 2025 are the Three Rivers Convention Center expansion, with a price tag of $75.2 million, and the $38 million AC Hotel by Marriott, a high-end hotel that will be next door to it, according to commercial building permits filed with the city of Kennewick. 

The convention center expansion at 7016 Grandridge Blvd. is a project in the making for years that will add 110,000 square feet to the building. It’s expected to open in fall 2026. 

The family-owned and operated A-1 Hospitality Group, based in the Tri-Cities, broke ground on the five-story, 118,623-square-foot AC Hotel by Marriott that will have 162 rooms in May 2025.

Another long-awaited community project currently under construction is the $10.3 million aquatic facility in west Pasco that’s set to open by the summer 2026.

Other top commercial projects include Benton Rural Electric Association’s $20.1 million headquarters at 2121 Cooperative Way, West Richland; Idaho Central Credit Union’s first Tri-Cities location at 3720 S. Zintel Way, Kennewick, a $12.4 million project; Holiday Inn Express, 7715 W. Quinault Ave., Kennewick, an $11 million project; and the $10.9 million Tri-Cities Airport expansion, 3601 N. 20th Ave., Pasco.

Excavation work is underway for the $75.2 million Three Rivers Convention Center expansion project at 7016 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick.

| Photo by Scott Butner Photography

Hot spots

Shaffer noted a burst of commercial activity in Pasco around Argent Road and North 20th Avenue, where Columbia Basin College is building a new student housing facility. 

Bookwalter is launching a new restaurant nearby called Non-Fiction at 2713 N. 20th Ave. The Flight Path Plaza, a mixed-use facility at 2915 N. 20th Ave., is expected to open later in fall 2025. Nearby on Varney Lane, a mixed-use building called The Landing will be completed in the summer of 2026.

Other areas seeing plenty of development include the Dallas Road area of Richland, south of Badger Mountain, and along Clearwater Avenue in Kennewick, which will welcome several new developments, including a new $7.6 million office complex for HAPO Community Credit Union at 9757 W. Clearwater Ave.

In West Richland, Shaffer has seen an “explosion of residential” construction, which he expects will increase demand for commercial projects.

Industrial investment

The Tri-Cities has a number of industrial projects on the docket, too: national egg producer Versova is moving into the former Reser’s Fine Foods facility at 5310 Industrial Way, Pasco, and fertilizer company Atlas Agro has plans for Port of Benton-owned land in north Richland.  

Earlier this year, the city of Richland authorized an agreement with Washington Energy LLC for 425 acres in the Northwest Advanced Clean Energy Park. The company proposes investing $3 billion to build a 1 million-square-foot facility for nuclear fuel cycle processing, creating 1,000 direct jobs. 

Scaffolding climbs the side of the Home2Suites by Hilton hotel under construction near the Tri-Cities Airport at 2203 W. Argent St. in Pasco, an A-1 Hospitality Group project next door to its existing Courtyard by Marriott.

| Photo by Scott Butner Photography

Industrial development is important in the Tri-Cities, Dye said, explaining that such development is like the bottom of an inverted pyramid, serving as “the engine that drives the rest of the economy and actually creates jobs in the secondary industries, which maybe would spur more commercial development.”

The Tri-Cities has plenty to offer industry. The region is centrally located with access to highways, railroads and rivers.

Even though unemployment is fairly low, the community is large enough to attract the workforce companies need, Dye said. 

Energy-related industries have done well in the Tri-Cities, particularly because of its nuclear-trained workforce. “Companies want to go where they know the community accepts and is looking to grow that sector, and we definitely do,” he said. 

In addition to projects like the proposed Washington Energy facility, nuclear fusion company Avalanche Energy recently set up shop in a Port of Benton-owned building in Richland with plans for a fusion test facility. 

Shaffer said that recent shifts with tariffs have caused the pace of industrial development to cool in terms of industrial leasing and buying.  

Companies coming in are also typically limited by the availability of power. That’s what makes nuclear projects, like the small modular reactors planned at Energy Northwest, very appealing. 

Shaffer said that Hanford remains a draw for the area, whether it’s engineering firms or other businesses supporting work at the site that are looking to expand to the area. 

“It’s my belief that Hanford is still a very big part of our economy, and it’s my perception that that funding and those efforts out there aren’t going to go away anytime soon, and that certainly helps,” he said.

Historically, the Tri-Cities has often been insulated from national trends due to the federal funds supporting the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Hanford cleanup.

Office openings

Shaffer said he’s seen an uptick in office leasing, noting the pace isn’t nearly as “fevered” as it was before the Covid-19 pandemic. But as more businesses focus on meeting in person rather than remote work, the market has had a steady pace, he said.

Potential tenants looking for office space often point to the central business district, centered around the Columbia Center Parkway, as the place to start, Shaffer said.

Often, businesses have to go farther afield from the main commercial areas to find office space for lease. 

Based on the high cost of construction, it can be difficult for developers to compete, Shaffer said, as they need higher rents to have a comparable rate of return. Developers often need a “tenant in tow,” or someone committed to move into a large portion of the building, to begin construction at all. 

This means tenants will often go to an existing location not as centrally located for cheaper rent rather than spending more to set up in the ideal location.