A previously distributed artistic rendering shows what the completed Centralia Station Project, could look like.
The Centralia Station project is forging ahead in 2019, with most construction set to be complete by the end of the year.
“We hope to complete infrastructure development in 2019,” said Port of Centralia Executive Director Kyle Heaton. “It could lag out into 2020 — it’s a really weather-dependent thing, so we never know. We can buy the Farmers’ Almanac, but you never quite know what the weather is going to be eight months from now. If we have a dry summer, then things will go quickly. If we don’t have a dry summer, they could drag on.”
Centralia Station is a 43-acre development located near the Interstate 5 interchange at Mellen Street. According to previous Chronicle reporting, the Port of Centralia Commission approved a real estate and purchase agreement with developer Powell Investment Co. LLC in March 2017 for roughly 28 acres.
“The bottom line is we’re not retail developers and that’s not our line of work,” Heaton said. “So we wanted to bring in someone who has been highly successful at it and, frankly, we travelled to Maple Valley to look at some of his other developments and he has a really quality development. So that’s why he was selected.”
The Chronicle reported in April 2017 that Peter Powell, CEO and founder of Powell Development, said there would be a 172,000-square-foot Fred Meyer store, with a full fuel center, a drive-through pharmacy and a garden center.
The Centralia Station project will also include recreational opportunities, which Heaton said the port will handle after Powell Development begins its own construction projects.
“We don’t want to create an attractive nuisance while construction is going on,” Heaton said. “So once heavy construction has subsided, then that’s the appropriate time for us to develop the soccer fields and things like that.”
The I-5/Mellen Street Connector project, which has been in the works for the past five and a half years, will include a new off ramp and existing street extensions. The Washington State Legislature earmarked $3.1 million toward the project in March of this year.
“The project is fully funded,” Heaton said. “It’s working its way through approvals with Department of Transportation now. … So it’s really just coordinating with DOT, who has been very good to work with. It’s an arduous process any time you are dealing with a federal agency, like Federal Highway Administration, and DOT has been really helpful trying to keep the project moving along.”
While the completion date for this project is also weather-dependent, Heaton expects the project to be complete at the end of the third quarter in 2019, but noted parts could lag into 2020.
Additionally, Heaton said the timeline to complete the stormwater facility that will serve Centralia Station is sometime in 2019. The completion date is weather-dependent, but he expects the stormwater facility to be completed sometime in the summer.
Heaton said he hopes to advertise for bids in February 2019, ideally open the bids in March, then have a contractor on site in mid-April. He said people will begin to notice construction sometime in April or May.
A 2017 report from ECONorthwest estimates Centralia Station will employ 535 people in Centralia, generate $7.1 million in state and local taxes and produce $118 million in annual sales, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
