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Pullman business owners not worried about Hawkins

May 20, 2008, 9:19 am

Pullman business owner Tom Handy is used watching money pass through Pullman only to be spent at stores in Moscow.

“I think it’s a known fact,” he said. “It’s because of the amount of retail that’s there — that’s the thing.”

Handy, owner of the Old Post Office Wine Cellar and Gallery and president of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, said he has some concerns that the retail development underway on the Washington-Idaho border may be one more project that draws customers out of Pullman. He’s not opposed to the development, per se, “I just wish it was six miles this way (west.)”

“I think the majority of Pullman business people ... would prefer to have people stopping here than going almost to Moscow,” he said.

Whitman County commissioners approved a preliminary development agreement with the Boise-based Hawkins Companies in February. According to the agreement, the county will finance the public infrastructure construction at the site through the sale of $9.1 million in bonds and hope to recover those costs through state funding.

Lowe’s Home Improvement will be one of three anchor stores and is the only confirmed tenant at the development. Site plans indicate there will be nearly 20 additional spaces for commercial businesses of all sizes.