JACKPOT
Update: April 20, The Tri-City Herald has reported that one day after purchasing the property Corey Bitton registered 14 partners.
The owner/owners of the big concrete building at 1200 Jadwin, whoever they are, may have hit the jackpot. If the Richland City Council approves the purchase at tonight’s meeting the property that 1200 Jadwin LLC (limited liability company) purchased on November 23, 2024, for $3.5 million will be purchased by the city for $7.750 million for a new police station.
Read the Observer’s previous report here:
The Washington Secretary of State (SOS) doesn’t require naming all the owners of an LLC when it is registered. The SOS database for state corporations lists Corey Bitton of Pasco as the governor of 1200 Jadwin LLC.
“It is my understanding that Corey Bitton is the sole owner, but I don’t know that with 100% guarantee,” City Manager Jon Amundson wrote the Observer.
The funding for the new station
According to city documents, the $50.1 million purchase and renovation of 1200 Jadwin will be $15 million cheaper than the other options to replace the current one built in 2000.
The city has listed a variety of potential funding sources for the new police station that include everything from budget surplus to using the windfall from replacing the car tab with a new sales tax, extending a tax that financed the library, and selling land for data centers and fertilizer factories.
The council began publicly discussing a new police station in 2022. Although the 1200 Jadwin building wasn’t mentioned during a June 28, 2022, meeting, acquiring and remodeling an existing building was on the table then.
An LLC named as seller
The city paperwork for tonight’s meeting seems to avoid naming the seller, referring to them only once as 1200 Jadwin LLC.
The Observer reached out to Bitton and asked who owned the LLC but received no response before publication.
The contract provided in the packet of information for the city council doesn’t mention any owner’s names. The signature lines in the contract included leaves all the seller lines blank.
Bitton has an interesting history
Corey Bitton has an interesting history. According to Tri-City Herald reports, Bitton, a farmer, and his wife, purchased the historic Moore mansion in Pasco in 1999 and opened a restaurant there.
The Herald reported on March 13, 2007:
“In January, Bitton was sentenced to four months of home detention and fined $25,000 for felony mail and wire fraud when he owned the historic mansion in Pasco. As part of a plea deal, other charges were dropped, including an arson charge for the fire that nearly burned down the mansion in 2001.”
The Herald also reported on several years of lawsuits between Bitton and the other mortgage holder for the Moore mansion that followed the burning of the historic building.
On January 16, 2026, According to Justia Dockets & Filings, Corey Bitton, Tamara Bitton, Spritz Inc., Great Basin Land Co LLC and Great Basin Land Co II LLC were plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the city of Pasco, WA, Troy Hendren, Rick White and John and Jane Does 1-10 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. The nature of the lawsuit, case number 4:2026cv05007, is listed as “Civil Rights: Other.” The Pasco City Manager’s office was unable to provide additional information.
City Council will decide tonight
Richland City Council meets tonight at 6:00 pm at Richland City Hall on 505 Swift Ave. The meeting can be viewed on cable channel 192 or on Richland City View.
A buddy of the mayor?
Hi Janet, I appreciate your comment. I don’t know if the one listed owner is the only person involved in the LLC. We don’t know if an insider passed information to this buyer. The property had been for sale for years. We don’t know if some member of the council or city staff has a conflict of interest. Cities can legally pass ordinances that require that property transactions include the names of all buyers and all sellers. We don’t know what we don’t know and the city council seems very comfortable with that. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
Randy, thank you again for another solid example of citizen journalism. Back in the day, the Moore Mansion seemed to provide endless content for Tri-City Herald reporters covering Pasco. As for that building on Jadwin Avenue, I believe it has value to Central Richland, and I would prefer it being owned by the city rather than the mysterious 1200 Jadwin LLC.
Hi EJ, I appreciate your comment. It’s not illegal for cities to have ordinances requiring that a full list of owners be provided for any actions regarding sales and acquisition of municipal property. Who are the investors in the LLC? Did they have inside information from the city? Is a partner in the LLC connected to the city or a city employee or councilmember? We don’t know, what we don’t know. The council seems unconcerned about this issue and that is an issue in itself. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
This is useful information that Richland residents should know. However, after watching the council meeting, it is clear that no major decisions were made. It was more of a presentation with opportunities for input from council members. I do not believe it is accurate to say, “the City will decide tonight.” Additionally, the second sentence is not accurate either. There was no opportunity to vote on or approve any sale.
Hi Anonymous, The Richland City Council unanimously voted to approve a contract to purchase the property at 1200 Jadwin at their last city council meeting. The contract that was approved can be read here: https://richlandwa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/5796/files/attachment/33659. The contract does have contingencies for inspections and appraisals. The council had a Jan. 20 workshop meeting to discuss the possible locations for a police station and no decision was made at that meeting. Perhaps that’s the video you viewed instead of the one for April 7 when a vote was taken to approve a contract. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy