Prominent Yakima business owners and individual community members have stepped up to provide another nearly $2 million in private pledges to build the Downtown Yakima Central Plaza. Those pledges are in addition to a $2 million contribution from the Plath family made earlier this year toward the plaza designed by world-renowned landscape architect and Yakima native Kathryn Gustafson.
The latest pledges to the Yakima Central Plaza project as envisioned by Gustafson range from
$100 to $1 million. Additional pledges are expected to be announced in the near future.
“The latest round of pledges shows that business leaders and community members see the Central Plaza as a valuable economic development tool and a key piece of the ongoing revitalization of Downtown Yakima,” said City of Yakima Economic Development Manager Sean Hawkins. “Momentum has been building over the last few months and now we’re seeing real results,” said Hawkins. “I’m confident we’ll reach the goal of $7 million in private contributions.”
The most recent pledges bring the current private contribution total to $3,938,800. The City of Yakima has budgeted $2.8 million in 2016 to complete the first phase of the project. The City is expecting to pay $7 million of the cost of the $14 million project with the private sector matching the City’s portion.
The single largest private pledge made since the Plath family announced its pledge comes from Peggy Lewis at $1 million. Lewis’ husband Walter and his brothers Lester and Victor founded Yakima Pine Products in the 1950s, which after merging with another company, was sold to worldwide building products manufacturer JELD-WEN, Inc. in 1990.
Both B.T. Loftus Ranches, a major hop producer for craft breweries, and John I. Haas, Inc., the leading supplier of hops in North America, have each pledged $250,000 to the plaza project. Poppoff, Inc., a Yakima concrete firm, has donated $100,000. The balance of the current nearly $4 million in private pledges is made up of contributions in varying amounts from 18 other individuals or businesses.
Pledges to the Downtown Central Plaza Project can be made online at yakimacentralplaza.com or by contacting Sean Hawkins by phone at 575-6274 or by e-mail at sean.hawkins@yakimawa.gov.
Private Pledges for Yakima Plaza Nearly Double – News Release