A partnership in Pasco, Wash., is seeking large industrial agricultural businesses in need of room to operate.

The 429-acre Heritage Industrial Center is suitable for large industrial uses such as food processing, warehousing, manufacturing and distribution, said Charles Laird, designated broker and owner of the Tippett Co. in Pasco, which manages the property.

Laird hopes to attract agricultural businesses needing 20 to 100 acres, or more.

“We’re surrounded by a pretty strong agricultural community and industry, so we’d like to see more of that type of use come to Pasco,” he said. “Ag users would be ideal, just because of the strong nature of Pasco’s ties to agriculture and current agricultural industry.”

The site has city roads and utilities, natural gas, power, fiber internet, freeway access and includes a rail spur managed by the Port of Pasco.

The land is zoned light and medium industrial.

The center is in an federal “opportunity zone” under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which provides real estate investors with capital gains tax relief.

In the 1970s, a group of 14 farmers and businessmen from Pasco purchased 1,600 acres of sagebrush-covered land. They established certificated groundwater rights and developed the land into pivot-irrigated farm ground.

The original partners included Bob Tippett Sr., Harold Thompson, Bill Preston, Clark Fee, Opal Wagner, Dale Hobson, Jake Holland, George White, Ron Wilson, Levi Weidert, Bernard Fischer, Vernon Cook, R.M. Simmelink and Dale Westermeyer.

The partners were visionary businessmen, Laird said.

“I think they had a desire to grow the community and an appetite to invest in real estate,” he said.

They created and developed the Columbia East Business Park, which has primarily attracted smaller industrial and commercial users, about 2 to 10 acres.

Over 40 years they sold parcels and constructed roads with city utilities in and around the property. That business park is nearly sold out, with approximately 15 acres remaining, Laird said.

The Columbia East partnership is now in its third generation. Only one of the original partners is still living.

The land has been leased to farming activities, Laird said.

“We feel like the timing is right,” he said. “There’s a lot of growth in the industry, particularly here in the Tri-Cities. It’s proven to be a place businesses are locating to.”

For more information, contact Laird at 509-545-3355.