Kendall Yards gets $350,000 earmark from Washington Legislature

OLYMPIA – The Kendall Yards development north of the Spokane River would be eligible for $350,000 from the state under an addition to a bill that passed the Senate on Saturday.

The money for Kendall Yards, through the state’s Local Infrastructure Financing Tool program, was added to other projects around the state in the bill that spends a total of $7.5 million and extends the LIFT program through 2039.

Under LIFT, local governments get a payment from the state and are allowed to retain a certain amount of state sales and use tax that a project can generate from increased economic activity. Local governments use that money to pay for improvements in the development area and sell bonds that they pay off with the sales tax they are allowed to retain.

After adding the amendment with money for Kendall Yards, the bill passed 45-2. An earlier version already passed the House, but the amended version must return for a vote today, the last day of the session.