The mobile homes were hauled out years ago. What’s next for this Richland lot?
Tri-Cities apartment construction isn’t slowing down after all.
Local builders who shelved projects in 2022 and 2023 because of rising interest rates and other costs are reviving plans as the economics of financing construction improve.
“Construction costs have come down — not a ton, but they have come down,” said Grant Young, who paused plans for The Bob, a 192-unit project in south Richland, two years ago. At the time, rising interest rates rendered loan payments unaffordable.
Now, The Bob is back in motion, he told the Tri-City Herald this week.
“That’s a big thing. Interest rates have come down. We’re borderline on interest rates. But I think we’re going to be able to pull it off,” he said.
The Bob honors his late father, Robert Young, a prominent Tri-Cities apartment builder. It will be built at 703 Columbia Park Trail, west of Richland’s Steptoe roundabout.
The 7.2-acre site is a former manufactured home park held by the Young family for more than a decade.
Grant Young and his team, which includes Spokane’s SRM Development, have a commitment for a Housing and Urban Development loan and are recruiting investors to the project. Once the financing is in place, Young expects to resume progress.
His timeline: “ASAP” — though only if interest rates hold.
The Bob isn’t the only sidelined apartment development coming back to life.
Tim Ufkes, a commercial real estate broker with Marcus & Millichap who is active in the Tri-Cities, said dormant projects are reviving locally and across the nation after being idled by rising interest rates several years ago.
“You’ve got these projects on hold. We see them getting back on the drawing boards and put through the permitting process,” he said. He notes a glut of new units delivered in the last building cycle forced owners to offer free rent and other concessions.
The market has firmed up and communities such as the Tri-Cities are adding new jobs and new demand.
“We need to build,” he said.
Young, who is based in the Bay Area, agreed.
The economics aren’t perfect, but his family has decades of experience in the Tri-Cities. It operates half a dozen neighborhoods in Kennewick, Pasco and Richland. It’s a good market, he said.
“We’re long-term players in the market. We believe in the Tri-Cities. We plan to hold this thing for a long time,” he said.
Not just The Bob
The Bob is one of several emerging developments in the Tri-Cities that promise to keep contractors busy as the current round of construction wraps up. Here are some others:
- In Richland, the city of Richland approved plans for Innovation Center Apartments, a seven-building, 144-unit complex at 2940-3940 Salk Ave., near the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory campus in April. Blue Fern Management LLC, based in Redmond, Wash., refers to the project as “The Helix” on its website. It first proposed the development in the Innovation Center complex in 2022. Officials couldn’t be reached to comment on the timing.
- In Kennewick, the city authorized a $2.1 million project to construct a third building at The Bonneville, a small complex at 319 N. Arthur St., near WinCo Foods. The new addition will add a dozen units at The Bonneville, constructed where single-family homes once stood.
- Also in Kennewick, TMG Northwest, aka The Management Group of Vancouver, Wash., keeps adding new buildings at Resort at Hansen Park, its collection of rental properties at Tenth and Columbia Center Boulevard. The latest is an $8.5 million mixed-use building that will blend residential and commercial space at 7906 W. 10th St.
- In Pasco, Zepgon LLC aims to expand its Columbia River Walk complex on West “A” Street, according to a zone change request in late 2024. Zepgon led by Jesus Zepeda, wants to extend its 288-unit river-adjacent apartment complex to a neighboring industrial site it uses for a lay down yard at 2326 W. “A” St. The city approved the rezone.
What about renters?
Builders only build if there’s a strong demand for units.
Locally, the apartment vacancy rate stands at about 8.1%, according to the most recent CoStar Group report shared by The Management Group, the property manager and developer behind Resort at Hansen Park in Kennewick.
Numbers vary though.
Marcus and Millichap, the commercial brokerage, puts it closer to 2%.
Regardless, the vacancy rate has dropped even as developers added more than 900 market rate, unsubsidized units to the area.
Demand for apartments expanded by about 875 units over the same period, a process the industry calls “absorption.”
For renters, it means local rents are still rising faster than the national average, 2.5% versus 1.1%, CoStar said.
The average rent for a unit that is not subsidized is $1,470 a month.
It’s $1,720 for top-tier complexes and $1,222 for lower end ones.
Ufkes, of Marcus & Millichap, said fundamentals are improving for landlords, but not wildly so. He predicts landlords will curtail move-in offers such as free rent or parking.
CoStar predicts rents will rise in the 4% range, but cautions that federal job cuts could curb demand from energy and agriculture workers in the Tri-Cities.
Don’t want to wait?
Apartment complexes typically take years to complete.
That means The Bob, Innovation Center and the other proposed plans won’t be delivered and ready for tenants until 2027 or later.
Prospective renters with a taste for new construction have several options coming online. Projects that began several years ago before interest rates began climbing are being marketed to tenants now, with move in dates planned this summer.
Some notable additions coming online:
- The Falls on 24th, a 105-unit mixed-use project off Union. Elite Construction + Development will serve tacos and tours at the grand opening, 11 a.m-1:30 p.m., May 29, at 4112 W. 24th Ave. Monthly rent starts at $1,150 for lofts, $1,650 for one-bedroom units.
- The Argyle Southridge near Southridge High School, formerly “Southridge Apartments,” opens this summer with 162 apartments, 20 live-work townhomes and a food truck plaza on an 8.5-acre site near Southridge High School. It’s still an active construction site, but a leasing trailer is open outside the fence. One-bedroom units start at $1,725.
- Clearwater Lofts, a 32-unit project at 7275 Clearwater Ave., held its grant opening earlier this month. Rent starts at $1,350 a month.
- In Pasco, Brisa Heights, a 142-unit complex at 10181 Burns Road, near Broadmoor, is in construction but has started marketing to tenants. Rents start at about $1,700 for a one-bedroom.
- Also in Pasco, Tierra Vida Apartments Phase III, 726 S. Road 40 E., is wrapping up the addition of 120 new units, not far from the Amazon distribution warehouses. Elite Construction + Development is building the complex for the Jubilee Foundation’s residential and recreation community.
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM.