RICHLAND -- Washington State University Tri-Cities' Wine Science Center is one step closer to finding a home.
Port of Benton commissioners formally directed port staff earlier this week to begin developing a long-term land-lease agreement. That would allow the school to build the center on about five acres of port land at George Washington Way and First Street inside Richland's research district.
Thomas Henick-Kling, director of WSU's Viticulture and Enology Program, said Thursday that the center is "critical" to future development of the state's wine industry.
"Without that facility, we won't be able to deliver on the research and education the industry is challenging WSU to provide," he said.
Henick-Kling estimated the center will cost $12 million to build and another several million dollars to furnish and equip.
Conceptual designs show a three-story building on a hill, with tri-level gravitational-flow press inside. The center is projected to be 45,000 square feet.
"What we saw conceptually we really liked," said Diahann Howard, Port of Benton director of economic development and government affairs.
Sharon Holden, director of development at WSU Tri-Cities, said the proposed Wine Science Center will expand work being done at an existing research facility in Prosser.
Holden said the Prosser facility can generate about 100 test batches of wine annually. But growth of Washington's wine industry has created the demand for about 500 test batches each year, which the WSU Tri-Cities facility in Richland would be able accommodate, Holden said.
The center also will allow the school to enlarge its teaching vineyard, develop a regional and international wine library and create a wine analysis laboratory.
-- Drew Foster: 585-7207; dfoster@tricityherald.com
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