City director looks at good, 'consistent' growth

Commercial interest in city reaching beyond discount market

MOSES LAKE — There hasn't been an explosion.

Moses Lake's commercial development is growing, all right, but it's constantly growing.

"You'll see a better growth rate than you saw in 2005," said Gilbert Alvarado, City of Moses Lake community development director. "It's not going to be an explosion of growth, if you will, but you will certainly see that additional residential growth continue at a pretty rapid pace."

Alvarado said overall construction is growing at a pace quicker than it has in the last four or five years.

"In terms of commercial projects, we are definitely experiencing consistent growth," he said.

The last big push in the city came when Wal-Mart was built, Alvarado said, and some of the businesses and buildings nearby came in.

"What you're seeing now is, by far, more commercial growth than we've seen for some time," he said.

Projects include a Nissan dealership building currently under way on Maiers Road, a Comfort Suites hotel project in the Kittelson Road area expected to begin later this month, a fast food restaurant in the Wal-Mart area that Alvarado said has been in the works for over a year, completion of Rick Penhallurick's plaza, and a sales building for North Central Construction.

Alvarado also pointed to the Moses Lake One-Stop building at 309 E. Fifth Ave., and the Coolidge Professional Building at 605 Coolidge Drive. While these buildings are not necessarily commercial retail, the additional construction increases the city's overall assessed valuation, which increases the city's taxation ability.

Alvarado attributes some of the growth to a little bit of everything — population growth, employee growth, and interest rates.

"Obviously, interest rates are still lucrative in terms of construction," he said. "We're seeing increased residential construction. Some of our employers are bringing additional bodies, additional employees into the area."

The May announcement of a $600 million expansion by REC Silicon also plays a part.

"In talking to some of the parties who are interested in developing in Moses Lake, or just happen to be kind of kicking tires, that comes up," Alvarado said, adding that the possible location by Guardian Industries in the area has also been mentioned by those eyeing the city, even though it's a Grant County project.

Another commercial project beginning the process is a 30,000 square-foot independent grocery store in the West Broadway area. That project is submitting applications, Alvarado said.

"We're definitely experiencing good growth, both residential and commercial," he said, noting that this type of growth tends to generate thoughts or interest that Costco or other types of commercial developments are also proposed at this time, which is not the case. "The type of commercial interest we've seen here has been that of a discount market, and I think we're getting beyond that in terms of commercial retail. That's a positive."