New complex in Moses Lake ready to rent
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 months, 3 weeks AGO
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | October 17, 2025 3:30 AM
MOSES LAKE — The Modern Heights apartments, located smack in the middle of Moses Lake, are almost finished.
“We have about half of them ready to go,” said Doug Robins, development coordinator for the project and the designer of the complex. “We have people moving in right now.”
When it’s finished, the complex will have 96 units, with one, two or three bedrooms. The one-bedroom apartments are on the third floor, and each has a covered extended living space about the same size as the bedroom.
“You have a beautiful veranda view of the area,” Robins said. “You can see the lake, you can see the townscape, everything from there. That was one of the features I wanted to add. So many of your one-bedrooms end up in a corner where nobody can really enjoy what they have to offer.”
The rest of the apartments have balconies, and some of the three-bedroom units have dual balconies, Robins said.
The apartments are all designed with 9-foot ceilings to give them a more spacious feel, Robins said. The kitchens come with stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops, and every unit has a washer and dryer hookup.
“If they request it, then we can put in washers and dryers for them,” Robins said. “But most people want their own stuff.”
They also come with free basic cable and Wi-Fi, Robins said, and at the center of the complex is a community building with a theater room and a workout room.
The project has been a long time in the making. Vijay Suglani, with Robins as his agent, purchased the property on Crouse Street in Moses Lake in March 2021, according to county records. Robins then contacted The DOH Associates, a Wenatchee architectural firm, to share his design ideas. Suglani and Reza Firouzi of Firouzi Development formed ML Vision LLC a few months later, and construction began in November 2023 with Priest River Construction as the general contractor.
There were hiccups along the way, mostly involving threading the maze of city and state regulations.
“The city is going through a lot of growing pains as far as planning and development,” Robins said. “We have a new city manager who's working with the council and trying to take us different places than we've been before. It’s all positive, but it still takes time to implement those ideas and those plans, and so the process can be very slow with everybody trying to get stuff through the system. There may not be enough staff, or the procedures are being refined to help make the process easier for all of us to deal with.”
Modern Heights will have an open house from noon to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to show off the apartments and take applications. The complex is located at 1701 West Crouse St., Moses Lake. More information is available at www.modernheightsml.com or by calling 509-765-8288.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.

