This Richland office tower is getting a $5 million makeover. Loft apartments are coming next

A bunker-like office building in Richland is getting a makeover that will set the stage for more development and a revitalization of the city’s core.

Boost Builds and its Kennewick-based contractor, Chervenelle Construction, began remodeling 1100 Jadwin Ave. in August.

The $5 million update will create a more comfortable, modern office building.

And it paves the way for Boost to eventually convert its neighboring seven-story tower, 1200 Jadwin Ave., into loft-style apartments.

“Certainly we’re improving the class of the building,” said John Crook, a Boost partner.

The renovation of a prominent Jadwin Avenue property is one in a series of projects aimed at reviving Richland’s central core.

The Jadwin project took a public turn this week when workers brought in a crane. The crane was needed to lift a new heating and air conditioning system to the rooftop.

Boost Builds, led by partners Crook and David Lippes, paid $1 million for a leasehold interest in the Jadwin office buildings, better known as the Tri-Cities Professional Center, in April 2018.

They later bought the land as well, which had been owned by the city of Richland.

The company views the aging office buildings as a prime opportunity to inject modern workplaces and more places to live in central Richland.

The company is also partnering with Chicago-based Crown Development on Richland’s most prominent apartment project, the 104-unit Park Place apartments at 650 George Washington Way.

For now, its Jadwin focus is on the 1100 building.

Converting the 1200 building to apartments is in the works but no start date has been set.

Legacy project

Lippes and Crook have said they’re chiefly interested in legacy projects, not turning a fast profit.

Lippes is a former Manhattan securities attorney and founder of TiLite, a Pasco wheelchair manufacturer that sold in 2014.

Crook is founder of Paragon Corporate Housing, a Richland company with a regional footprint managing corporate and private rental property.

“What I care about more than anything is building the community I want to live in,” Lippes told the Herald when they started the project.

Crook agreed.

“We have a real appetite for projects that will change the community.”

Office makeover

The office makeover includes replacing the concrete panels that make up the facade, a new lobby, bathroom updates and other amenities.

It is about 75 percent occupied, with several current tenants planning to expand as part of the renovations.

When work wraps up next year, it likely will have just a few fifth-floor suites left, Crook said.

This week’s HVAC work will combine the separate heating and cooling systems, improve energy efficiency and retire a dated, inefficient baseboard heating system, he said.

Outside the building, Boost and its team have restored the northern parking lot and removed an old bank awning as part of the facade work.

It has cleaned up overgrown brush along Marjorie Sutch Greenway, which follows the a small creek across the property.

Boost is matching nearby Kadlec Medical Center’s landscape design.