‘Food is always with us.’ Japanese restaurant 1st to break ground at former E WA airport
If construction goes as planned, Tri-Citians will be sipping saki and savoring Japanese cuisine on a restaurant patio next to a former airport runway in Kennewick next fall.
Isabelle Yuri Na, owner of two Asian restaurants in Richland, broke ground on her third on Nov. 22. Na, her family and 75 civic leaders gathered in the cold and rain at Vista Field to celebrate the start of construction of Kuki Izakaya Restaurant.
Kuki Izakaya is the first private business to start construction at the former airport being reinvented as an urban center by the Port of Kennewick.
Kuki Izakaya, billed as an upscale Japanese restaurant, should open in September or October 2025 at 697 Crosswind Blvd., which borders the long closed runway.
“Food is always with us,” she told supporters. “I want to be a part of your life.”
As a small, local business, Kuki Izakaya exemplifies the port’s vision for the one-time municipal airport, said Tim Arntzen, executive director.
He said two to three other businesses in the development pipeline could break ground in the spring. But Kuki Izakaya crossed the line first, an important moment for future of Vista Field.
Na moved to the Tri-Cities from the Seattle area about four years ago to open Ara Sushi and Chicken & Bowl, both in Richland. She loves the Tri-Cities — safe, clean, nice “and no traffic except for Costco.” But she missed the Seattle food scene and often traveled back with her husband and family to eat out.
Together, the couple decided to fill in the missing piece. She said Vista Field offered a chance to fulfill her dream of not only running her own business, but owning the building it occupies.
Na, also identified in public documents as Yoori Nah, paid $95,000 for a small parcel along the former runway in a deal that closed in August. She secured a building permit on Nov. 20. The 3,500-square-foot restaurant has a construction value of about $700,000 and is being built by Construction Services of Washington LLC.
Na wasn’t just the first business to break ground at Vista Field. She was the first to publicly confirm her interest in being part of it.
What’s next
Kuki Izakaya’s future neighbors include a bridal shop, an eye clinic, a mixed-use residential building and a neighborhood of single family homes.
The port has development deals with Blueberry Bridal, Columbia Pointe Eye Care, Akula Group (apartments and retail) and BlueChart Homes for future projects but none have formally closed.
Arntzen said another unidentified company has submitted a request to be part of Vista Field, but the deal hasn’t yet been reviewed by elected leaders.
Blueberry Bridal, owned by Amber Keller, has a deal to purchase Lot 18 at Crosswind Boulevard and Azure Drive. It renewed the agreement in September, which started a 90-day clock to close the land deal.
Akula Group of Vancouver wants to build a 40,000-square foot, five-story mixed-use building with residential and retail units on Lot 25 at Crosswind Boulevard and Constellation Way.
Columbia Pointe Eye Care, owned by Richland Drs. Brandon Furness and Royce Barney of Cantley Vision Inc., will be a 6,800-square-foot clinic on Lot 31, on Azure Drive. Like Blueberry, it signed off on a deal with the port in September and has until late December to close the transaction.
BlueChart Homes, a joint venture of Chartwell Land Co. of Silverdale and Blue Fern Development of Redmond, wants to build 300 single-family homes along the former runway over the course of seven years.
Vista Field history
The port — controversially — closed Vista Field to air traffic at the end of 2013, citing lack of federal funds and low traffic.
The vision for the 103-acre property emerged from a series of community gatherings.
The port developed a master plan and invested about $5 million to build roads, sidewalks, street lights and a water feature to serve the first phase.
It dedicated the project in June 2022 and officially listed 21 parcels on 20 acres for sale to would-be developers. Blueberry Bridal was first to sign a purchase sale agreement.
The port itself is renovating two former airplane hangars into a public plaza dubbed Vista Field’s “Southern Gateway”
The Benton County Rural Capital Fund underwrote the $2.1 million project, which is under construction.
Yellow “X”s painted in 2013 to ward off aircraft are still visible on the crumbling runway.
For more information, visit vistafield.com
