Moses Lake development moving at steady pace

MOSES LAKE — Just taking a look around Moses Lake, there’s a lot going on.

Apartment complexes. A new motel. Remodeling of existing buildings. And what about Wendy’s?

While a lot is going on, development in Moses Lake has proceeded at a pretty steady pace, said community development director/deputy city manager Gil Alvarado. The number of building permits issued by March 2018 was the same as permits issued in the same time frame in 2017. Overall growth in Moses Lake has been “very consistent,” he said.

Last fall, a Spokane franchisee for Wendy’s announced plans to build a restaurant in Moses Lake. The company has land. “They own it. They bought it,” Alvarado said. But the company has other developments, “other irons in the fire,” he said, and haven’t contacted city officials with any development plans.

Three apartment complexes are currently under construction or were recently completed, and will add 546 apartments to the available housing. City officials were anticipating an increase in apartment house construction, Alvarado said. The last apartment development built was filled as soon as it was finished, he said, and developers realized the city had fewer apartments than it needed.

Alvarado said the biggest change in the development picture has been the lack of plans for new commercial buildings. Some buildings are being remodeled – Ace Hardware will set up shop in the Grant County Mall on Pioneer Way, and a new restaurant is going in at the intersection of East Broadway and South Pioneer Way.

There are, Alvarado said, relatively few vacant buildings left in Moses Lake. Potential tenants have expressed interest in some of those buildings, he said, but the process of remodeling can be a challenge.

“When it comes down to the permitting, maybe it isn’t as easy as they thought,” Alvarado said. The proposed Pita Pit, still in development, is a “classic example,” he said. The restaurant, when it’s finished, will be located in a space that was an office building. That requires adding a kitchen to a building that never had one, he said.

Development can take a while – the Jack in the Box restaurant took five years, he said.

Potential developers have expressed interest in the vacant lots between the existing Home Depot and Goodwill Industries on Central Drive, he said, due to the increase in commercial and residential development in that neighborhood.

Motel developers have had their eye on Moses Lake, however. The Marriott in Moses Lake was built by developers from out of the area. “He’s not even from Washington state.” The developers were interested in expanding to the Pacific Northwest, and wanted a project to familiarize themselves with the local business climate. The developers narrowed their choices to Portland, Spokane and Moses Lake, and chose Moses Lake, Alvarado said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.