Richland’s city council has agreed to buy a long vacant seven-story building off Jadwin Avenue to replace its current police station, and is banking on money from the sale of land for a data center to help fund the project.

A new police station has been discussed for years as the Richland Police Department has outgrown its current headquarters at 871 George Washington Way. 

To explore the city’s options and plan for future growth, the city hired Rice Fergus Miller Inc. to assess the current station and provide cost estimates for three different options. 

The 126,000-square-foot building at 1200 Jadwin Ave. came up as the least expensive path, $15 million cheaper than the second-cheapest option.

In total, the building will cost $7.75 million to buy and an additional $42 million to renovate for use as a police station. 

City officials are hoping that the sale of land in its Northwest Advanced Clean Energy Park – particularly, land set to be purchased by Atlas Agro to build a data center – will help fund the planned improvements.  

Outgrowing old space

Richland’s current police department is a single-story building with about a 19,000-square-foot footprint, said Joe Schiessl, deputy city manager, during an April 7 city council meeting presentation. It was built in 2000 for about $2.5 million and was first occupied in 2002.

But the space is too small for the city’s needs. According to the city’s planning analysis, the department needs about 56,500 square feet of space over the next 15 years, both to meet current needs and to support future growth. Discussions about where to put a new station have been underway since 2018.

“Today’s facilities must accommodate expanded evidence storage, digital forensics, secure processing areas, and legally required separation of detainees,” according to an FAQ about the project. “They also include secure vehicle transfer areas, (secure) public spaces, and appropriate wellness and support space for staff.” 

Exploring options

The city’s contractor examined a few different options for a new police station. In addition to the existing building at 1200 Jadwin Ave., the former city hall site and a city-owned site near Costco in the Queensgate area of Richland were under consideration for the station.

In addition to costing less than the other two options, the Jadwin building offers a few different advantages, Schiessl said. 

The building is big enough both for the police station’s current need and future growth, and there’s still plenty of space left over to house other city services in the future. Councilman Kurt Maier described the project as “forward-thinking” in his comments during the April 7 meeting. “I really like to see us getting in front of future needs, and I think that that’s a point worth stressing,” he said. 

The building and land are spacious enough that they provide an opportunity to house Fire Station 71 on site if a time comes to replace its building on George Washington Way. Both its fire station and administrative office functions could find a home at the Jadwin building, Schiessl said. 

Using the building also keeps the police station in central Richland, near the current police station and City Hall, while also filling a long-vacant building. 

The building at 1200 Jadwin Ave. that Richland is considering for its new police station was built in 1980 and was once owned by the city. Other owners later bought the building with plans to convert it to multifamily apartments.

| Photo by Nathan Finke

Building history 

The Jadwin building, a brutalist-style concrete building which sits on just over 4 acres of land, was built in 1980, according to Benton County property records.

The property was once owned by the city of Richland and the building was leased and long occupied by the U.S. Department of Energy contractors, according to one property listing.

The main entrance is on the second floor, facing Jadwin, with two-level parking connected by a bridge over a creek and walking/biking trail. The original marble tile still lines the floor and elevator lobby walls, according to the listing. The Guyer Avenue entrance served as an employee entrance and a cafe operated in the basement. 

The property changed hands in 2019, when B2 1200 Jadwin LLC bought it for under half a million dollars, according to property records. The LLC’s registered agents were John Crook and David Lippes, who had previously updated the Fuse building at 723 The Parkway.

In 2019, their goal as Boost Builds was to transform the multistory building into multifamily apartments, but the project never materialized. 

The building sold in 2024 to 1200 Jadwin LLC for $3.5 million. That LLC is registered under Corey Bitton, who’s also the property owner of the former Public Market at Columbia River Warehouse in Kennewick and also the former owner of Moore Mansion in Pasco.

Since the building sold two years ago, only one building permit was issued: to remove partitions, wall board, vandalized and broken bathroom equipment and more to clean the interior and prepare for a future project. The permit expired without ever being finalized.   

Funding concerns

The building remains on the market for $7.9 million. City staff worked with the owner to negotiate a slightly lower price, at $7.75 million. 

Still, one citizen raised concerns during the public comment portion of the council meeting that Richland was giving Bitton a “generous bail-out to someone who has been detained and fined for multiple cases of fraud.”

He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and mail fraud in 2007, according to U.S. District Court documents. 

Although the city council unanimously decided to buy the building April 7, there are still a few opportunities for the city to back out. Its purchase agreement includes protections for the city, like refunding the city’s deposit if the building has structural issues or allowing the city to renegotiate if the building’s appraisal is less than the purchase price.  

Data center land sale

But the building’s purchase price is a relatively small portion of the total project cost. To revamp 46,000 square feet for use as a police station, the city will need to invest more than $42 million. 

The project won’t require new voter-approved revenue, according to city documents. However, the city said it’s counting on the land sale to Atlas Agro to help fund the improvements.

In particular, the city mentioned the sale of land to Atlas Agro for a data center as a source of funds. Richland entered into an option agreement with the company for the land in December 2025. That doesn’t mean that Atlas Agro has purchased the land, only that the parties can evaluate a potential purchase.

If Atlas Agro buys the land, it would bring in $24 million for the city of Richland, plus revenue from sales tax on the construction of the data center, annual property tax and electric utility occupation tax.

While Schiessl said that things have been looking good for Atlas Agro so far, the land sale isn’t a done deal yet. If it were to fall through, he said the city would seek additional debt financing to cover the costs. 

Next steps

Now that the council has agreed to the building sale, the next steps are to begin the due diligence process and share information with the public. Then the city will close on the property and begin to design and contract for the project. 

Go to: bit.ly/jadwin-project.