Exclusive | 100+ stores on horizon for west Pasco in multi-million development deal

A development company has signed a deal to buy land for a large retail complex in west Pasco for as many as 100 new stores.

The buyer plans to purchase 53 acres in the Broadmoor area, said Tim Ufkes, the broker for the current landowner, Dale Adams of Broadmoor Properties.

Until the deal closes, the buyer’s name will remain confidential, but Ufkes told the Tri-City Herald the large-scale retail project will play a big role in west Pasco’s transformation.

The land is next to where the Herald reported in March that Costco has plans to open a second Tri-City location.

The 80-year-old Adams, who owned hundreds of acres near Interstate 182 and Broadmoor Boulevard, is selling more of his property in what Ufkes called his “final legacy.”

Adams currently has about 600 acres for sale.

The latest parcels, valued at a combined $3.7 million based on Franklin County assessor records, sit at the corner of the future expansions of Sandifur Parkway and Harris Road.

“The vision (of the retail complex) will be that type of outdoor experiential development — somewhere that you park your car and walk and shop for two to three hours,” Ufkes said.

While no anchor tenant has been secured, he said the developer will be talking to all major retailers and restaurants that shoppers often see in bigger centers, like University Village in Seattle.

Trader Joe’s has not committed to a Tri-Cities location, but the company told the Herald in the spring that it was considering Tri-Cities as a possible growth market.

Ufkes said that his company is working to attract other alternative grocery stores, such as Metropolitan Market or PCC Community Markets.

“I think the Broadmoor development will look entirely different ... 12 months from now,” Ufkes said.

The city council cleared the way for the developer to move forward after it unanimously approved a request in mid-August to rezone the land from residential transition to business retail.

Efforts by teams with the city and interested stakeholders helped shape Pasco’s updated 2018-28 comprehensive plan that outlines future uses for the 1,600 acres that make up the Broadmoor urban growth area.

The goal was a mix of housing, retail, commercial and open spaces that incorporates walkable and “transit friendly” designs, including multi- and single-family housing built next to each other, live/work spaces with residential units on top of office buildings, as well grocery stores.

The growth doesn’t come without complexities — like an estimated $40 million reconstruction of the I-182 interchange, as well as changes to streets and the addition of sewer and water services.

More housing

City documents show the area has the capacity for 7,000 more housing units that could hold as many as 22,000 people. That growth is on top of the hundreds of acres of retail that will attract more traffic.

“It is interesting. The Tri-Cities is gathering serious steam and we are getting interest from companies that haven’t considered it before,” said Ufkes, who works for Marcus and Millichap out of Seattle.

He has worked with Tri-City clients since the 1990s, with his first client being the late Robert Young — a developer of a large number of apartment complexes and housing. Ufkes told the Herald that back then, the Tri-Cities wasn’t necessarily an attractive market.

“Tri-Cites was the highest-risk market in the state of Washington,” Ufkes said.

Now, commercial and retail amenities are finally catching up with the expansive growth in population in the past 20 years.

Already, several parcels are under contract for retail and commercial development but the earliest any of the sales will be final and recorded will be late spring 2022, and some as far out as 18 months, said Ufkes.

He believes all the land will be sold within the next couple of years.

That time will give the city and county the cushion to work on the infrastructure needed to accommodate all the added traffic that will come with the growth.

Traffic

The Washington State Department of Transportation submitted a letter to Franklin County’s planning department in January outlining its concerns with the ability for existing roads to meet future needs and the need for improvements.

“This area is transitioning from large lot agricultural and rural uses to dense users of urban residential and commercial areas,” the letter said.

“We are concerned about the cumulative adverse impacts from development on the interchanges. The impacts will cause the interchanges to fall below acceptable levels of service and require necessary improvements to restore them to acceptable level of service.”

Already from 2006 to 2018, the traffic on the Road 100 corridor more than doubled from about 10,500 vehicles to 22,400.

Some of the roadway issues have been addressed in transportation plans, including:

▪ Extending Sandifur Parkway a mile west of Broadmoor Boulevard in two phases by the developer. Estimated cost: $3.5 million.

▪ Connecting Harris Road north to Dent Road west of Broadmoor by the developer. Estimated cost: $5.4 million.

▪ Connecting Broadmoor Boulevard and Deseret Drive by developer. Estimated cost: $8 million.

▪ Bridge widening and interchange reconstruction at Interstate 182/Broadmoor Boulevard Interchange. Improvements: Funding from state and local sources. Estimated cost: $40 million.

Housing

Already, single-family housing developments on the west side of Burns Road have added more housing and traffic and more are in the works.

But another developer of multi-family developments — including several in the Tri-Cities — also is proposing two complexes that will bring an 426 more units near the planned retail construction next to Burns Road.

Two new complexes called Affinity at Broadmoor and Hydro at Broadmoor are being proposed by Inland Construction of Spokane to go on 19 acres also owned by Broadmoor Properties, according to documents filed with the state. That land is assessed at $1.2 million.

If approved, the Affinity complex would have a single 180,000-square-foot building with 170 units, as well as a 5,320-square-foot club house.

The company has built at least nine “Affinity” complexes including the Affinity at Southridge in Kennewick, which are all considered active adult communities for 55 and older residents. The Southridge complex boasts of movie theater, card room, craft studio, fitness center and pub.

The Hydro complex would have eight 30,000-square-foot buildings with 32 units each for a total of 256 units. It also will have a 4,800-square-foot club house.

An open-record hearing on the issue is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 10, in the city council chambers at Pasco City Hall, 525 N Third Ave., according to paperwork filed with the state.

Permits also have been issued for grading on another six acres on the north side of Burns Road. The parcel bought for $626,200 by Wapiti Investments last year also will be a new housing development, according to building permits.

Grading permits also have been issued to Big Sky Developers on another 6.5 acres for grading to prepare for an additional development. Big Sky Developers bought the property in early 2020 for more than $678,000.

This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.