Lost in all the fanfare about Riverpointe and its economic importance is a plan to run a short spur off the trolley's Selah line into the proposed shopping center.

"It's pretty unique," says Jack Evans, a spokesman for the investor group building Riverpointe. "We're not aware of any other venue like this having an historic trolley."

A stop at Riverpointe would also boost visibility for the trolleys, which have had a rough run of luck in recent years.

Now there's talk of new trolley lines around town and other developers may be looking at the trolley to give them an edge.

"Everybody seems to like us now," says Paul Edmondson, vice president of Yakima Valley Trolleys. "It hasn't always been that way."

A draw for tourists and fans of vintage rail transit, the system was crippled in 2005 by scrap-metal thieves who cut down and stole the overhead wire that had powered the trolleys for nearly a century through the Selah Gap.

Unable to quickly replace the wire, the trolley association has been forced in recent years to restrict its operations to a half-mile run up Pine Street near Davis High School in Yakima, rather than its more scenic five-mile route over the Naches River and into Selah.

The short run has actually seen increased ridership and revenue, but trolley officials desperately want the trolley to be more relevant and more visible.

With the Selah run set to finally resume next year, Edmondson says there is optimism a Riverpointe spur could jump-start a run between the shopping center -- to be located south of Highway 12 between North Sixth and 16th avenues -- and downtown Yakima.

A destination-to-destination run like that would put the trolley on the map and could be the catalyst for even more ambitious projects, he says. "Front Street to Riverpointe, that would be ideal."

Edmondson says Riverpointe developers were quick to note that the trolley's Selah line runs up North Sixth Avenue, flush with the shopping center's eastern boundary.

The trolley association also has plenty of spare rails in storage, further improving the chances for a spur. Nor will there be a need for a turnaround.

That potential stumbling block was removed when the developers learned they wouldn't have to build a turnaround because trolleys don't have a front or a back -- they just reverse course.

"The (electrical) poles swivel," Edmondson says, adding that the developers "were really relieved when we explained it to them, and everything started to move forward."

But don't expect to
see the trolley at Riverpointe until next year at the earliest. For starters, the shopping center has yet to break ground.

At just over 800,000 square feet, the shopping center would surpass the Valley Mall in Union Gap in size and restore some retail luster to the city, which has never replaced the retail base it lost when the Yakima Mall closed in 2003.

Developers have yet to announce a tenant lineup, but say they plan three big-box stores, with at least one national retailer.

A second phase still on the drawing board could see the addition of 400,000 square feet, including a fourth big-box store.

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.