New bathrooms going in at Grant Co. Fairgrounds

MOSES LAKE — The framing is up for a new bathroom and storage area in the space between the commercial and 4-H buildings at the Grant County Fairgrounds.

Tom Gaines, Grant County Central Services Director, said completion is scheduled for January. Project cost will be about $1.6 million, he said, but that’s paying for more than a bathroom. The design has to tie together two buildings of different sizes, he said.

“There’s a lot going on there,” Gaines said.

The project cost also includes the installation of automatic fire suppression systems for the commercial and agriculture buildings, which are next to the 4-H building. Fairgrounds officials want to be able to host events that use all three buildings, and that requires an integrated fire sprinkler system, Gaines said.

“They have to work together,” he said.

Fire suppression in each building also can be controlled separately, but the sprinklers must be set up to work as a package, he said. The 4-H building already has sprinklers, so the old and the new have to be connected too.

The final cost was close to the estimate provided by the architect who designed the project. Gaines said he was skeptical at first.

“But the architect was right,” he said.

The remodeled space also will have the potential to house a commercial kitchen space, he said. While there’s no plan for a commercial kitchen currently, the plumbing and electrical systems were designed to be able to accommodate one if it’s added.

The project has been something county officials have been trying to schedule, but kept putting off, he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app to get more local content.