Kennewick wants voters to approve Broadway-style theater

Kennewick voters could weigh in on a $35 million theater-anchored overhaul to the Three Rivers Convention Center campus as early as August.

The Kennewick City Council expressed support at a workshop this week to seek voter approval of a sales tax increase to support the project, called “The Link.”

The council is expected at its Feb. 16 meeting to give the Kennewick Public Facilities District approval to proceed.

The new sales tax would add 2 cents to a $10 purchase and would generate $3.5 million annually to build The Link.

The 100,000-square-foot project would modernize the Three Rivers campus with a 2,300-seat theater, a 50,000-square-foot convention center addition and a 30,000-square-foot new lobby to reorient Toyota Center toward Vista Field.

An election win would also gut the Tri-Cities Regional Public Facilities District by preempting its ability to levy a sales tax of its own.

That would dash hopes for a “Grand Bargain,” the dream of a vocal group of Tri-Citians who want voters to support projects in each city in a single vote.

A new beginning for convention center

The Link is the long-awaited successor to Kennewick’s 2013 effort to expand the convention center, which just this week hosted 2,000 visitors for the annual meeting of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers.

Kennewick voters rejected a one-tenth of a percent sales tax increase that would have funded the $20 million expansion.

Corey Pearson, executive director for the Kennewick facilities district, said staff and supporters began working on a new plan as soon as the last ballots were counted in 2013.

Voter surveys indicate Tri-City residents want a first-rate theater able to host touring productions of Broadway hits such as “The Phantom of the Opera,” Pearson said.

The Windermere Theater at Toyota Center hosts smaller touring productions but usually for one-night engagements. That’s because Toyota Center has to be set up for frequent hockey and football games, which makes it almost impossible to book multi-night engagements.

The Link would contain a fully equipped theater with permanent seating, a full stage and orchestra pit.

ALSC Architects, the Spokane firm that designed the existing convention center and the failed expansion, created the new vision.

The Link’s Broadway-esque theater would complement the Arts Foundation of the Mid-Columbia’s proposed 800-seat performing arts center at Vista Field. The foundation is negotiating to purchase a site at the center of Vista Field from the Port of Kennewick, which is developing a master plan for the former airport.

The arts foundation intends to break ground on the privately funded facility in about three years.

Foundation spokeswoman Kathryn Lang said the theaters will serve different audiences and performers.

“It really forms an arts and entertainment district,” she said.

As the “Link” name suggests, the proposed addition will occupy the area between the convention center and Toyota Center with an open corridor that embraces Vista Field, a key to future connectivity.

Uniting the two buildings will improve the flow of visitors and make it more inviting for conventions, meetings and performances, Pearson said.

“We live and die by flexibility,” he said.

A big price tag

The bold vision comes with a bold price tag. The Kennewick facilities district will seek the full amount allowed by state law, two-tenths of a percent. That’s twice the one-tenth it sought in 2013.

There is a key difference — in 2013, the district asked for a permanent sales tax boost. This time, the sales tax has a sunset of 15 to 20 years, long enough to repay bond debt and no more.

The request could go on the Aug. 9 primary election ballot, though backers reserve the right to wait for the following August if there is insufficient momentum behind the campaign by April.

Pearson and the district’s campaign consultant, Tyler Borders, defended the August date. It is considerably more expensive to run a ballot measure in a primary than in a general election because there are fewer other issues on the ballot.

An August date will cost less to run as well. The Benton County Auditor estimates the cost of putting an item on the primary ballot at $12,000 to $15,000, versus up to $22,000 for the November general election. The auditor said the latter election will cost more because of the voter’s pamphlet and added staffing for managing the higher turnout.

Borders said it will be easier to communicate about The Link in August than in November because it won’t have to compete with noisy political campaigns — including a presidential election — for voter attention.

Turnout is also substantially lower. The last summer election attracted just 14 percent of eligible voters, versus more than 80 percent in the November general election.

Borders, the communications consultant, intends to pitch The Link to younger voters through social media.

End of the Tri-Cities PFD?

If Kennewick wins a sales tax increase, it will head off any future attempt to run a measure by the Tri-Cities Regional Public Facilities District because both are dependent on the same two-tenths of a percent taxing authority.

As long as Kennewick is collecting the revenue, the Tri-Cities district would be unable to request any sales tax increase on its own.

The regional board discussed such a development when it met in October. It’s important to remain in business until a sales tax hike actually passes, said Brian Malley, who manages the regional district at the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments.

“Until it passes, people don’t know what other people support,” he said.

Four of Washington’s 25 public facilities districts are in the Tri-Cities, one for each of the cities and the regional district.

The Tri-Cities district needs the cooperation of the three cities and their respective facilities districts to put any project or package of projects before voters.

It’s only done so once.

In 2014, it asked voters to support a Pasco aquatics center. Pasco voters said yes but were outvoted by Kennewick and Richland. There is no interest from the cities in pursuing a joint effort.

Pearson, with the Kennewick district, said the regional district remains a valuable regional asset that should be kept intact.

“It wouldn’t have any funding available. But as our project and others are retired, there could be a bigger opportunity in the future,” he said.

This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 10:12 PM with the headline "Kennewick wants voters to approve Broadway-style theater."