Flower farm evicted for a gas station after 36 years in Kennewick

Tri-Cities Flower Farm is scrambling to sell thousands of trees, flowers and houseplants after being evicted from its longtime home near Columbia Center to make way for a gas station. “Kennewick needs another gas station,” said owner Tom Kay, who is unapologetically salty about losing his lease. “It’s an eviction.”

Kay has not ruled out a new venture, but said he’s focused on clearing out inventory both at the retail site and the actual farm that supplies the greenery it sells before May 30. “We are really under the gun,” he said.

While he’s treating it as a total liquidation, he didn’t rule out reestablishing the business in some other form. “There’s many, many different opportunities.”

Kay and his family established the Tri-Cities Flower Farm 40 years ago, first in Pasco. They added a Kennewick location 36 years ago on a corner of a 6-are site at 311 S. Columbia Center Blvd., near West Clearwater. Flower Farm leased its lot because it couldn’t afford a 20% down payment on land valued at $1.1 million at the time, Kay said.