Construction continues on the new WinCo Foods at Centralia Station, although WinCo has yet to say when construction will be completed.
WinCo is the anchor tenant for the Port of Centralia’s new development — located just off Interstate 5 at the intersection of Yew Street and Art Lehman Avenue — which will also have buildings for other businesses, including a restaurant.
The Chronicle has reached out to WinCo Director of Corporate Communication Noah Fleisher to ask about estimated completion and opening dates for the new warehouse-style supermarket, but has not received a response yet.
While rumors have been circulating on social media that a Red Robin might be joining WinCo at Centralia Station, Centralia City Clerk Kristan McConnell told The Chronicle on Thursday, Sept. 5, that the city has yet to receive a business license application or permitting applications from the nationwide burger chain.
Port of Centralia Executive Director Kyle Heaton stated Wednesday the Tacoma-based kitchen appliance store Weir’s Appliances was considering building a new location in a lot adjacent to Centralia Station.
“They will not be acquiring from the port. But, currently, they are contemplating constructing a 30,000 square-foot appliance store here, 30 new employees, that would be immediately adjacent to our property,” Heaton said. “That was the hope when the commissioners originally started out with Centralia Station, is that we don’t need to own every piece of property but be the catalyst for growth around us as well. And that’s starting to happen.”
The Centralia Station project is being carried out in three stages, with stages one and two involving extending Yew Street south from Mellen Street and construction of Art Lehman Avenue connected to Yew Street to the I-5 Mellen Street exit. Stages one and two were carried out by port-approved contractors and are now complete.
Stage three, the supermarket’s construction along with the parking lot and surrounding structures, is being carried out by WinCo. WinCo will be in an 84,000-square-foot building north of another 11,000-square-foot retail building and a 2,750-square-foot restaurant building, according to the site plans.
All pay estimates by the port have now been approved and completed for stages one and two, carried out by the Toledo-based contractor Midway Underground and the Kent-based contractor Scarsella Brothers respectively.
The first of the final two payments on stage two totalled $19,392.55 and was approved during a May 15 port meeting. The second totalled $139,253.67 and was approved on July 17 during a port meeting.
An additional pay estimate not made public during a port meeting was approved on Dec. 29, 2023, totalling $26,211.93.
Port of Centralia Commissioner Kyle Markstrom explained to The Chronicle in an email that “smaller pay requests are approved administratively.”
Scarsella Brothers’ original bid for stage two submitted in April of 2023 was $2,337,681.75, but after two change orders were made and approved by the port at the beginning of the year to account for unexpected extra construction costs and challenges, stage two was expected to cost $2,459,671.68. The prior pay estimates already approved for stage two totalled $2,296,938.56.
With the final payments now made, the total cost for stage two was $2,481,796.71.
Midway Underground’s original bid for stage one submitted in August 2022 was $6,116,322.03. As of last September, five change orders had been approved for the stage one, raising its expected cost to $7,302,768.67.
A total of 14 payments to Midway Underground for stage one had already been completed as of April earlier this year to the tune of $7,633,251.55.
Aside from the contractor pay estimates, the Port of Centralia also made a payment on Feb. 7 to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) totalling $177,000. It was made to pay for inspection and technical support for the new I-5 Mellen Street exit — Art Lehman Avenue — dating back to 2018.
Payments made by the port for both stages one and two and to WSDOT totalled $10,292,048.30.
To view the Port of Centralia’s past meeting minutes and agendas, visit https://portofcentralia.com/documents-center/meeting-agendas-and-minutes/.
