Yahoo Finance Kennewick fronts $8M toward doubling Tri-Cities convention center. But there’s a catch
A major redevelopment of the Three Rivers Convention center could begin as early as this fall after the Kennewick City Council agreed to front money for design and other costs.
If all goes according to plan, the convention center would nearly double its meeting area while a private partner will build a Marriott-flagged hotel with a high-end steak house on its sixth floor.
The city council helped the project move to the starting gate this week when it voted unanimously on June 4 to loan about $8 million to the Kennewick Public Facilities District. The money will design and furnish a 60,000-square-foot addition to the 81,000-square-foot center.
Its private partner, A1 Hospitality Group, is designing its hotel and related projects, It aims to break ground at the same time the expansion begins, Taran Patel, A1’s managing partner, told the Tri-City Herald.
A1, a Tri-Cities hotel developer and operator, and the city agreed in 2019 to work together to transform the 2004-built convention center into an urban village catering to residents and tourists alike.
Under its terms, the city would expand the convention center and A1 would purchase several sites on the property and build a skyline-changing neighborhood. its vision includes a high-rise hotel, apartment towers, restaurants, retail and other amenities..
Patel said the COVID-19 pandemic slowed its progress and ended its hope of funding its share of the work through the federal Employment Benefit 5 or EB 5 program. EB 5 rewards immigrants who invest in job-creating projects with green cards.
Patel said A1 turned to traditional bank loans, and is working on designs. The design teams are working to ensure a clean, consistent project with physical links between the convention center and the hotel.
As it shared with the city last fall, A1’s vision includes an Aloft-style hotel with a Walla Walla Steak Co. restaurant and bar on the sixth floor. F
A1’s share of the redevelopment always hinged on expanding the convention center. Tourism officials have long claimed the 2004-built convention facility needs to expand to compete with other cities for the lucrative meeting, convention and sports gatherings that fill hotels and spark visitor spending.
Officially, Three Rivers is operated by the city’s Public Facilities District. The city’s $8 million contribution is effectively a loan to the facilities district from its own Capital Improvement Fund.
The full project cost isn’t yet clear but some form of bond will cover much of the cost.
The city signaled that it expects to be repaid, possibly through a bond it authorizes. Neither the city nor the facilities district board have made any decisions. The PFD does not intend to ask Kennewick voters to raise local sales taxes to support the project.
Kennewick voters previously rejected three sales tax proposals that would have supported bonds to pay to build public facilities, once for a Pasco aquatics center and twice for previous versions of the Three Rivers conversion.
Game changer
Corey Pearson, executive director, said he was satisfied with the current plans, saying the new space will be a “game changer” that will attract visitors who will spend money at local hotels, restaurants and stores.
The city embraced the public-private partnership after its voters unambiguously said “no” to paying more at the cash register to support the project.
Washington law allows public facilities districts to ask voters to increases sales taxes by up to 2 cents on a $10 purchase. PFD requests have gone before Kennewick voters three times.
They rejected regional request to build an aquatics center in Pasco in 2006. Pasco proceeded on its own and is preparing to develop the aquatics facility.
Later, they twice rejected a more ambitious overhaul of the convention center called “The Link,” by about 5% in 2016 and by 10% in 2017.
The Link would have added 50,000 square feet to the convention center and 30,000 square feet to the neighboring Toyota Center. A 2,300 seat “Broadway-style” theater that would link the two buildings gave the proposal its name.
The Link would have cost about $35 million in 2016, or about $46 million today.
No permits have been issued, but Kennewick city officials met with the project engineer, Paul Knutzen of Knutzen Engineering, and Spokane architect Rustin Hall of ALSC Architects on June 5 for a pre-application conference.
ALSC was responsible for the convention center’s original design. The 81,000-square-foot project opened in 2004.
The agenda included fire protection systems and traffic impacts.
The project description included a description of the convention center’s future connection to a Marriott-branded hotel and retail buildings. Patel confirmed that his team held a similar meeting a day later.
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