West Richland Real Estate Blog

One of the best things about living in West Richland is that we’re still small enough to get excited when a new gas station opens. So, yes, this is cool — the new Smitty’s 76 gas station/mini-mart is now open on Bombing Range Road, right across from Yoke’s Supermarket.

I went in over the weekend with my kids, and the inside is really nice. It’s super clean, of course — but it also looks nice, looks a little different from the typical mini-mart store. And maybe best of all, the kids found lollipops being sold for just 15 cents each! I didn’t know you could still buy anything for 15 cents these days.

Oh, there’s also a Quiznos mini-restaurant inside - don’t want to forget mentioning that.

And all of this adds up to good news for the city — more sales tax dollars coming in to the city coffers is always a good thing.

I’ve been watching the progress on the new Kadlec Clinic being built in West Richland for a couple months now, and just within the last week or two the frame started going up. Here’s how it’s looking as of this past weekend:

They broke ground back in March, and the structure is just going up now, so obviously building a new medical facility takes a fair bit of time. It’s due to open early next year. The official name will be Kadlec Clinic West Richland Primary Care. Some of the features of the new clinic are:

• 19,500 square feet over two stories
• space for up to 12 physicians/health care providers
• laboratory and x-ray capabilities
• physician specialties will include family practice, pediatrics and internal medicine

I should mention that Kadlec does have a small presence on Kennedy Rd. in West Richland now. The doctors there will move to this new building when it’s finished early next year.

And as a West Richland resident, I’m excited to have a true medical facility like this so close to home.

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I’m no economist, but it seems to me that West Richland’s economy is going really strong these days. When I go out and ride my bike around Bird Hill during the day, there are still all kinds of new houses being built. (I’ll leave it to my wife to write more about all that real estate stuff.) Rural roads are being paved. You may have read about the new wine village that’s going in along Keene Rd. Kadlec Medical Center is building a new clinic.

There’s all kinds of new development and new businesses starting up in West Richland, and a lot of it is happening up on Bird Hill. I took a few photos last week during one of those bike rides. Have a look:

Paradise Plaza

This is Paradise Plaza, which is on Paradise Way behind the semi-new Yoke’s Supermarket. The businesses in here include an Avocado Mexican Grill and Allure Hair Studio. One of these days I want to try Avocado for lunch and see what it’s like.

Paradise Place

Paradise Place is another retail site in the same parking lot as Yoke’s. It’s at the corner of Paradise Way and Bombing Range Road. There’s a Sahara Pizza, a game store, and a coffee shop in this group of stores. Sahara Pizza is also on my list of things to try soon.

GESA Credit Union

Right across the street from Paradise Plaza and Paradise Place is a GESA Credit Union branch. That’s good — banks mean traffic, and traffic driving by the new retail sites has to be good for business.

76 Gas / Quiznos

And finally, right across Bombing Range Rd. from all of this is a new 76 gas station, with a Quiznos Restaurant inside, too. This is still under construction, but it doesn’t look like they have much left to do. I’m guessing it’ll be open any day now. I’ve already tried Quiznos plenty of times, and will certainly be eating there again now that it’s so close to home. Hopefully the gas prices won’t be too far out of line with what the other places around West Richland are charging.

There was also supposed to be a new 24-hour fitness center being built right next to the gas station, but that seems to have been delayed or canceled altogether. Despite that, it’s pretty obvious that the West Richland economy is going strong. And it’s great to have some new shopping and eating options right here in the neighborhood.