PASCO, Wash. – A project four years in the making is finally happening. The multi-million dollar project has been a vision of James Sexton, the owner of JMS Construction and Development for a while now. The COVID pandemic put a temporary hold on the project, now it’s starting back up.
According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Pasco is the 10th fastest-growing city in Washington. The Port of Pasco says they want this area to be a destination spot.
Currently, all that is at Osprey Pointe is a lot of vegetation and one building, the Port of Pasco building. In the coming years, it will look very different.
“We have on there, 70 stand-alone homes going up,” said Sexton. “Six four-story buildings, four eight-story buildings, five or six, I can’t remember off the top of my head seven-story buildings, two hotels, a marketplace and an event area.”
Sexton says the end goal for Osprey Pointe is a huge downtown-like area. We might now have to wait that long to see some noticeable changes to the property. Right now all he is waiting on is for The Port of Pasco and him to sign the Master Development Agreement.
“We’re hoping that’s in the next 30 to 60 days,” Sexton says.
Phase one will begin with one of the four-story apartment buildings.
Sexton himself is funding the project but says when the project gets going he’ll have some help.
“We have banks and loan companies that we use,” he says. “Then we’re doing an opportunity zone. That’s where people can invest money into it and get a paid percentage.”
Randy Hayden, the Executive Director of the Port of Pasco says they’ve been looking at doing something for Osprey Pointe for a while.
“We will either lease or sell specific parcels as he goes through the phasing plan for the full construction,” Hayden says.
Hayden told me the most important part of the project to the port, was the commercial element.
“We are hoping to see some very nice restaurants down here,” said Hayden. “Some retail, there were probably be some professional business space as well.”
While the project sounds exciting, some community members are not quite sure about the project. Alexia Estrada one of the owners of Cafe con Arte, is a Pasco resident and lives in that area. She says she’s not sure how she feels about it, but does think the project has good intentions.
“I just want to make sure that there is a follow-through,” said Estrada. “It’s really a community that’s been there, you know, so they can benefit.”
Sexton says his contract is for 12 years, but hopes to get it done in ten years. He’s excited as a Tri-Cities local because the growing population finally gives him the chance to bring something special to the area.
“This type of thinking has always wanted to be here,” said Sexton. “We’ve always wanted to have that mixed-use type of event things going on here. We’ve just never had the city population to do that until the last few years.”
Hayden says the jobs coming to this project will be in the service industry and thinks the residential part of this is another very important piece to not only the city of Pasco but to the state as a whole.
