Articles by Wendy Culverwell
Darigold picks Pasco for $500M plant
Darigold Inc. will build its largest ever milk drying plant in Pasco, cementing the region’s status as one of the Northwest’s leading centers for food processing. The Seattle-based dairy cooperative intends to build a $500 million, 400,000-square-foot protein and butter plant packed with carbon-reducing features on 150 acres at the Port of Pasco’s future Reimann…
Montana ag company plans $40M Pasco greenhouse on heels of $1.1B IPO
A Montana startup that raises lettuce and herbs in high-tech greenhouses is coming to the Tri-Cities on the heels of a merger that will take the company public with a valuation of $1.1 billion. Local Bounti, launched in Hamilton, Montana, in 2018 by a pair of former energy industry executives, will build the first of…
Reser’s Fine Foods begins 250,000-square-foot plant in Pasco
A Portland food manufacturer known for its potato salad is expanding in the Mid-Columbia with a new processing plant in Franklin County, just north of the Pasco city border. Reser’s Fine Foods broke ground on a 250,000-square-foot facility plant on North Capital Avenue, east of Highway 395, shortly after it closed a $3 million deal…
Visit Tri-Cities drops membership dues as it pivots to storytelling model
Visit Tri-Cities, the tax- and fee- funded agency responsible for putting heads in hotel beds, is dropping its paid membership model in favor of a storytelling approach that includes high-quality videos and images. The shift away from the $250 “basic” membership program ($185 for nonprofits) began before the Covid-19 pandemic knocked the industry to its…
Corvette owners have a wish for Make-A-Wish
Corvettes on the Columbia, a long-running celebration of all things Corvette and a major fundraiser for Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington, returns in September after organizers were forced to cancel the 2020 event because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 3 Rivers Corvette Club will hold the 2021 edition – its 11th – from Sept. 10-11. It…
Ste. Michelle’s $1.2 billion sale will be felt in the Mid-Columbia
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Washington’s largest winery by far, will join a corporate stable that includes consumer-focused brands such as Ann Taylor Loft, Torrid and Hot Topic under a $1.2 billion deal announced July 9. Altria Group Inc., parent to the Woodinville-based winery, said it had reached an agreement to sell Ste. Michelle Estates to…
J-U-B Engineers moves to new Kennewick office
The civil engineers and designers in the Kennewick office of J-U-B Engineers have lent their expertise to almost every aspect of the locally-built environment. They work on water and wastewater plants, roads and bridges, aviation projects, site development and plenty more. And now, for the first time since the Kennewick office opened near West Clearwater…
Tax-paying arm of LDS church wins auction for Easterday farmlands
Farmland Reserve Inc., a Utah-based nonprofit related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the winning bidder at a June 17 bankruptcy auction for the 22,500-acre collection of Benton County farms owned by Easterday Ranches Inc. and Easterday Farms. Easterday, a fourth-generation, family-owned agriculture giant based in Franklin County, collapsed after Tyson…
Updated: Darigold picks Pasco for $500M protein and butter plant
Darigold Inc. will build its largest ever milk drying plant in Pasco, cementing the city’s status as one of the Northwest’s leading centers for food processing. If completed,150 acres at the Port of Pasco’s future Reimann Industrial Center off Highway 395 will become home to the largest protein and butter plant of its type in…
Applebee’s renews Kennewick lease after landlord put its building on market
The Kennewick Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill + Bar is staying put after tough lease renewal negotiations prompted its landlord to enlist NAI Tri-Cities to market its building to new tenants. Applebee’s at 606 N. Columbia Center Blvd. was pitched as a highly-visible retail location with nearly 33,000 vehicles passing by each day and asking rent of…
