A new upscale Japanese restaurant is planned for Kennewick’s Vista Field.

The restaurant, Kuki Izakaya, will serve sushi rolls, sashimi and other Japanese-style food and drinks. It’s to be built on the nearly 5,000-square-foot Lot 15 on Crosswind Boulevard.

Port of Kennewick commissioners on Feb. 27 unanimously approved a 90-day exclusive negotiation period with Richland restaurateur Isabelle Yuri Na. That will allow time for a $95,000 purchase and sale agreement for the land to be hammered out.

The Port of Kennewick owns Vista Field, a former municipal airport near the Columbia Center mall that’s being redeveloped into a regional town center.

Port commissioners praised the Kuki Izakaya proposal during the meeting.

“From my perspective, I love the project,” Commissioner Ken Hohenberg said. “I’m anxious to see this built and to have people enjoying the fine dining and being able to sit outside in the nice weather across the roadway from the stream.”

Na, along with her partner, BK Hong, recently opened Chicken & Bowl on Swift Boulevard and they run Ara Sushi & Grill off George Washington Way.

Ara Sushi was listed for sale last year, but Na and Hong have decided to keep it.

Kuki Izakaya is set to be one story tall and about 3,500 square feet.

A new upscale Japanese restaurant is planned for Lot 15 in Kennewick's Vista Field. LPR Architecture is the designer and Construction Services of Washington is the general contractor.

| Port of Kennewick

LPR Architecture is the designer and Construction Services of Washington is the general contractor. The team is moving quickly on construction documents for the permitting process, and “they are super motivated to begin construction as soon as possible,” said Amber Hanchette, the Port of Kennewick’s director of real estate.

Na told port commissioners that Kuki Izakaya will be open seven days a week. Customers will be able to enjoy drinks and even have meetings while they eat, she said.

Meanwhile, other development at Vista Field – which closed as an airport in 2013 – also is in the works. The port is finalizing a deal with Vatik Dulo of Akula Group and investor Ryan Foster for the 13,077-square-foot Lot 25.

They plan a five-story commercial and residential building.

The $8 million building will include a restaurant, cafe and multiple shops, plus studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments and two-story condos.

Kuki Izakaya and Dulo and Foster’s mixed-use building are within Vista Field’s first phase, a 20-acre area that includes parcels for single-family development, live-work development and mixed-use. The port has invested $4.9 million in infrastructure there.

When it’s fully built out, Vista Field is planned to include 750,000 square feet for retail, office, service and entertainment uses, 1,100 residential units, and more.