West Richland Real Estate Blog

Did you catch this in the news this week? Winemaker Joel Tefft is planning to open a distillery here in West Richland — it’ll be the first distillery in southeastern Washington. The groundbreaking for Black Heron Spirits Distillery and Ports Works was Wednesday out at the intersection of Keene Rd. and Van Giesen.

Here’s how KNDU covered the event.

You may have received a postcard today announcing that Club 24 Express Fitness is now open at its West Richland location in Paradise Plaza near Yoke’s. But it’s actually not open yet.

I contacted Club 24 via email, and they’re saying it’s likely to open next week; the exact date isn’t certain yet — it depends on final inspections and stuff like that.

They are planning a big, two-day grand opening on Friday, January 8th and Saturday the 9th, from 8 am to 5 pm on both days. There’ll be tours of the facility, door prizes, and more. And the first 200 people to join the club will get some free workout gear, too. You can get more info about the West Richland location, and can even sign-up in advance online, via the Club 24 web site.

I’ve been planning to join for some time now, and the amount of food I’ve eaten over the holiday only confirms the decision.

Baum’s Chocolates will have a new home in early 2010 — a new home in West Richland. KEPR reported the move a few days ago, saying the store will be moving to the old GESA location right on Van Giesen Avenue.

“The big advantage of moving to West Richland is better exposure from the street. We won’t be hidden quite as much as back in this corner,” says owner Rick Vance.

The story says Baum’s will open in West Richland after Valentine’s Day.

This won’t be news to some of you, but it was news to me when I drove by a couple days ago: Avocado Mexican Grill up in the Paradise Plaza shopping center (near Yoke’s) has closed down. The door and windows are all covered and there’s a sign saying “We are closed permanently.”

Cari had eaten there and said it was good, but apparently not enough people overall ate there and/or liked it. Shame, too. We need more restaurants in West Richland, not less. I suspect Avocado was hurt a little by being the furthest business away from Bombing Range Rd. in that whole Yoke’s shopping/business center.

There are two other spaces unoccupied at Paradise Plaza, which isn’t a good sign.

It’s not every day that a West Richland business wins a national award, so we’d like to congratulate Smitty’s Paradise on winning the Best Interior Design award in a nationwide contest sponsored by Convenience Store News.

When the store opened last summer, I wrote on this blog, “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.” Guess I should’ve said it looks “very different” from the typical store.

You can read more about the award and the store on the Herald’s web site.

UPDATE, DECEMBER 29: Please see this post, Club 24 Fitness opening next week in West Richland, for the latest information about Club 24 Fitness in West Richland.
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This is good news: Club 24 Fitness is coming to West Richland, perhaps as soon as next month! If you’ve been in the Yoke’s/Paradise Place shopping area on Bird Hill, you may have seen the signs in the windows:

From what I could tell, the fitness club is taking up the spaces that used to be occupied by three separate businesses. So it should have a nice amount of space for equipment and such.

The Club 24 web site only says “December 2009″ about a grand opening date for the West Richland location. Perfect. Just in time for everyone (like me) who’ll surely be over-eating during the holidays.

There’s no information on their site about pricing at the West Richland location, but the Richland facility pricing runs $25 per month with a year-long contract, or $35 per month with no contract. All of the Club 24 locations have that same pricing, so our local one might, too. Unfortunately, there’s also a one-time $69 “membership fee.” Ugh. I much prefer the fitness clubs that skip the membership thing and just charge a monthly fee (like River Walk Fitness in Richland does). But I may still give some thought to signing up at our local Club 24 when it opens.