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Big Pasco Barracks Going Down by Pratik Joshi Tri-City Herald, May 15, 2007

Workers from Kennewick-based Andrist Enterprises will demolish the last remaining Army barracks building near Ainsworth and Oregon avenues in the Big Pasco Industrial Center this week to pave the way for the Port of Pasco's Riverfront Business Park.

The business park plan, which is part of the port's master plan, will help the port to develop 125 acres of property along the Columbia River, one of the last remaining undeveloped, levy-free shorelines in the Tri-Cities.

Crews already have demolished three buildings since the $86,000 project began a month ago, said Randy Hayden, the port's director of planning and engineering.

Demolitions are part of the first phase of infrastructure development, he said, adding the workers first removed asbestos from the site before bringing down the buildings.

The port is now talking with Pasco officials to hammer out development agreements for the proposed growth of the area. "It removes uncertainty from the (development) process," Hayden said.

In addition to the business park, the master plan also includes a retention area for its existing industrial warehouses and the expansion areas for bigger warehousing needs for businesses. The first phase will be completed by the end of 2008.

According to a port commissioned conceptual plan, the business park will have more than 1 million square feet of building space, for a combination of office and light industrial use. It also proposes landscaping with native plants, public access to the waterfront and possibly an amphitheater and a dock.

Hayden said the business park could generate as much as $90 million in private investments.

"It is the port's goal to fund the infrastructure within the business center, which will be repaid by land-lease revenues from future tenants. Construction of the majority of the buildings will be by private developers, although the first building may be built by the port to serve as the cornerstone for the development," Hayden said.

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