Signal Light Coming In N. Wenatchee Where New Business Will Be

An announcement will be made in the next 3-6 months on what business will be moving to the site of the former Department of Transportation building on Wenatchee Avenue.  

The city recently extended McKittrick Street on the east side of Wenatchee Avenue, which can provide an entrance into the site.   

 Wenatchee Public Works Manager Rob Jammerman says the city council is currently considering a couple of offers for commercial development of the site. 

"It's not a done deal yet, so I can't disclose what's occurring," said Jammerman. "But I think the public will be pleasantly surprised, and the city's excited to have the redevelopment occur there and have part of that property sold." 

A natural food grocery store, hotels, and chain restaurants have been mentioned as interested parties in the site. 

Jammerman says the city will also install new traffic signals at McKittrick and Wenatchee Avenue in the next 60-90 days. 

“With that installation of that signal, we will now have a controlled access point at McKittrick for the property that will be redeveloped on the east side of Wenatchee Avenue,” Jammerman said.  

The site of the old Department of Transportation (DOT) building is 8.5 acres. 

Directly connected to that land is an area formerly occupied by fruit warehouses that were destroyed in the 2015 wildfire that hit Wenatchee. 

The city used grant money to purchase the property where the warehouses were located as well as the old DOT building for the purpose of controlling the future development of the land as well as to secure the right of way for the McKittrick Street extension. 

The Street next will be extended under the BNSF railroad tracks to the east and will connect with the future Confluence Parkway at North Miller Avenue and Hawley Street. 

The city received $92 million in federal INFRA grant money for its portion of the Confluence Parkway project.  

The money will cover the completion of the McKittrick Street extension and the northern extension of Columbia Street from McKittrick to Hawley Street. 

Part of the northern extension of Columbia was built with the newly extended part of McKittrick (as seen in the aerial photo in this story). To the south of McKittrick will be a private road known as Columbia Lane that will be amongst the private developments going in. The city will be vacating a small portion of the right of way it obtained that is no longer needed for the private road.