More apartments sprout up in Kennewick, Wash., area.

Byline: Jeff St. John

Jun. 27--It seems the Tri-Cities can't have too much rental housing -- at least that's the way builders of new apartment complexes in Richland and Kennewick see it.

In Richland, a Hillsboro, Ore.-based developer is building a $16.1 million, 224-unit complex at 2100 Bellerive Drive, to be called the Bellavista Apartments.

Farther north, at 1790 Leslie Road, a Spokane-based contractor has filed permits to build 40 more units at the Tri-City Terrace apartment complex.

In Kennewick, a Vancouver, Wash.-based development company is building a 160-unit complex to be called Grandridge Place Apartments, at 725 North Center Parkway. According to building permits filed with the city of Kennewick, the entire project is valued at just under $4 million.

This year has seen a spate of new apartments going up across the Tri-Cities. Pasco, Kennewick and Richland had about 9,250 apartments in March, according to a semi-annual survey of rental properties by Crown Property Management in Kennewick.

But new apartment complexes, with about 1,500 new units, are planned for the Tri-Cities, according to a May tally of proposed projects. The developers of Bellavista say they're aiming for higher-end tenants with luxury apartments that offer amenities to help them compete with all the other new rental housing out there.