‘Cranes everywhere’ as $71.3M Kennewick convention expansion nears milestone
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- Kennewick expands Three Rivers Center by 115,000 sq ft in $71.3M project.
- Contractors set 160-foot beams for a 6,000-sq-ft column-free hall.
- District issued bonds repaid by center revenue and a state sales-tax rebate.
Steel is flying in Kennewick as a $71.3 million update to the Three Rivers Convention Center steams toward a major milestone.
The convention center is being expanded by 115,000 square feet, a move designed to boost its appeal as a destination for conventions, meetings and sports tournaments.
Cory Pearson, general manager, said the contractor, Lydig Construction, and its partners are moving quickly to set the 160-foot beams that will support the future roof. Each is being lifted into place by a pair of cranes.
The steel structure will support the roof of the convention center’s signature feature, its 6,000-square-foot column-free meeting hall.
The hall can be configured for large groups and has room for six basketball courts, 20 pickleball courts, nine volleyball courts or 24 wrestling circles.
Pearson said construction was affected by December windstorms, but is on track to open as planned in about a year.
Topping off
Once the roof beams are set, Three Rivers will hold a “topping off” ceremony to mark the occasion.
The exact date will depend on weather and work conditions, but Pearson said it should happen in January.
He called it an exciting time to be on the Three Rivers campus.
While Lydig builds the new convention center, Fowler Construction is building 162-room AC Marriott Hotel for A-1 Hospitality.
A-1 is serving as the private partner on the convention campus renovations. The $47 million hotel is privately funded by investors and a loan from Idaho Central Credit Union.
The two are related and will be physically connected. For now, the hustle and bustle of side-by-side construction projects is striking, Pearson said.
“Everywhere you look, there’s cranes,” he said.
A brief history
The Three Rivers Campus is owned and operated by the Kennewick Public Facilities District, a quasi-public agency tasked with operating public facilities in tandem with the city of Kennewick.
The original convention center debuted in 2004. Officials long dreamed of an expansion that would compete for meetings, sports tournaments and events with venues in Seattle, Portland, Spokane and beyond.
Kennewick voters rejected ballot requests to raise the local sales tax to pay for various versions in 2013, 2016 and 2017. The last would have featured a 2,000-seat Broadway style theater called “The Link” and failed with a 55% no vote.
With voters set against funding the project with sales taxes, officials regrouped. The project was revisited and the district and city found a way to pay for it without raising local sales taxes.
They issued bonds to pay for construction and will repay them from the center’s own revenue as well as a state sales tax rebate associated with the Seattle Mariners.
The Kennewick Public Facilities district receives about $5 million a year, including $3 million from event-related revenue and $2 million from an 0.033% sales tax rebate from the state.
The Washington Legislature authorized the sales tax more than 20 years ago as part of the package that created public facilities districts to build what is now T-Mobile Park for the Seattle Mariners.
The city of Richland and its public facilities district used its .0033 money to build The Reach Museum.
Benton County and the city of Pasco, lacking projects of their own, dedicated their share to support the convention complex in Kennewick. Pasco voters later approved a local sales tax to fund the ongoing construction of a water park in the Broadmoor area.
The updated convention center is expected to host an additional 200,000 visitors each year, translating to demand for more than 70,000 hotel rooms.
Tourism, was worth nearly $650 million to the Tri-Cities economy in 2024, according to the most recent Visit Tri-Cities figures.