1st large apartment complex project coming to central Kennewick in nearly 20 years
A prominent Kennewick family will build the first significant new apartment complex in central Kennewick in nearly two decades.
Quinault Village will bring 266 apartments in a garden-style complex to a spot bordered by the 15-court pickleball complex at Lawrence Scott Park and with the Port of Kennewick’s Vista Field redevelopment on the other side.
Tammy Steele-Chavallo is seeking approval for the complex at 5927 W. Quinault Ave. on a site that currently has several homes and a construction yard.
Steele-Chavallo and her late husband, Jose “Fred” Chavallo initiated the project before his unexpected death in May.
It is the first of several projects he was working on to head into the approval process. His team pledged to press ahead on other undertakings, including a hotel envisioned at the site of their family home atop Thompson Hill.
The Chavallos have long owned the 8.25-acre property on Quinault and even lived in one of several homes there when their children were young. Their son Jordan, a part of the family development business, lives there.
Paul Christensen, the project engineer, said the team considered possible uses for the site and concluded apartments made the most sense given the construction in the neighborhood.
Relatively recent additions such as Chuck E Cheese’s, Summer’s Hub food truck court and Miramar Health Clinic are bringing new visitors to the area and that will only grow as Vista Field gains traction, he said.
In time, the Chavallo-owned homes will be demolished. The project does not include a privately-owned home at Kellogg Street.
Vista Field
Quinault Village will complement neighboring Vista Field, where the port is marketing sites at the former airport to developers interested in its mixed-use urban village, Christensen said.
People can work and play at Vista Field, then live across Kellogg at Quinault Village, he said.
The Chavallo team is still working on designs for the project, which will be built in phases as units lease up. They anticipate hiring a third-party property manager to oversee the complex.
Preliminary plans indicate it will have 12 buildings with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units along with parking, a limited number of garages, a club house, pool and courtyards with covered barbecues.
When fully leased, it will serve about 600 residents.
The city of Kennewick is reviewing project, according to documents released under the State Environmental Protection Act or SEPA.
Charles Morgan & Associates Architects is the designer.
First in decades
Kennewick confirmed no large apartment projects have been built in central Kennewick in nearly two decades.
The most recent additions were the Kamiakin Apartments, a 140-unit complex at 4711 W. Metaline Ave. and Center Pointe Apartments, a 110-unit complex at 460 N. Arthur St. They opened in late 2005 and 2004.
Quinault Village is part of an ongoing construction boom that has added hundreds of apartment units to the market, leading to rising vacancy rates though not a drop in rent prices.
CoStar Group Inc. reports the average rent for the nearly 13,200 apartments in Tri-Cities stands at about $1,350 a month. The average asking rent rose 2.8% in the past year, down from the peak of 13% in late 2021.
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