Washington State House 2023-25 Capital Budget Includes Funding to Upgrade the Port of Mattawa Event Center
MATTAWA, Wash., March 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The recently released proposed 2023-25 House Capital Budget includes $361,000 for the Port of Mattawa Event Center. Rep. Bryan Sandlin (representing the 15th Legislative District and also a member of House Capital Budget Committee) played a key role in helping to get this important funding for the Event Center included in the House Capital Budget.
The $361,000 in funding will be used to upgrade the Event Center to accommodate the fast-growing southern Grant County area (Mattawa and Desert Aire), as there is a rapidly increasing demand for business conferences and meetings, community events, education and training space and classrooms, and a gathering hall for community needs.
In particular, the funding will be used by the Port of Mattawa to make some necessary improvements to the exterior of the Event Center, such as expanding and upgrading the Event Center parking lot by doing the following:
- Leveling, grading and gravel of the Event Center parking lot;
- Asphalt paving of the Event Center parking lot;
- Security and fencing around the Event Center parking lot;
- Adding seven (7) light poles to the Event Center parking lot.
This critical upgrade project will allow the Port of Mattawa to better serve the community's meeting and conference needs, by providing a safe external area around the Event Center with expanded and better parking, as well as a security fence and more and improved external lighting.
As the south Grant County area (Mattawa and Desert Aire) has been growing quickly and is nearly 50 miles away from larger communities, there is a growing need for a suitable venue/facility in Mattawa that can host larger-sized community events and business meetings and conferences.
As a result, upgrading the Port of Mattawa Event Center will increase tourism, business and community meetings, and education and training events in south Grant County, which will in turn boost sales tax revenues for the Mattawa area, and help to increase existing restaurant and catering revenues, and attract hotel development and more restaurant development in the Mattawa area.
For more information, please contact Lars Leland at Port of Mattawa at 509-932-4928 or [email protected].
The Port of Mattawa is located in southwest Grant County on the Columbia River in Washington State and is the closest inland port in central/eastern Washington State to the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Grant County is the top agricultural production county in Washington State, and Mattawa is a major producer of wine grapes, apples, cherries, potatoes and onions and other high-value irrigated crops.
The Port offers ideal sites for wineries, food processors, fresh produce packing companies, cold storage facilities, small manufacturers, and is a prime location for agribusiness companies because of its central location in Washington State near major irrigated agricultural production areas including the Columbia Basin and the Yakima Valley.
The Port of Mattawa is also very close to Interstate 90 and enjoys some of lowest-cost electricity in the United States from Grant County PUD.
The greater Mattawa area (Mattawa, Desert Aire, Beverly, etc.) is one of the fastest growing rural communities in Washington State and has a population of nearly 10,000 people. Additionally, Mattawa is only a one-hour drive or less from several major communities in central Washington such as Moses Lake, Othello, Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, Yakima, Sunnyside, and Ellensburg, which have metropolitan statistical areas (MSA's) with a combined population of nearly 1 million people.
SOURCE Port of Mattawa
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