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  #201  
Old Posted May 4, 2009, 7:32 AM
jake840 jake840 is offline
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Haub Closes on USPS Parcels

The Haub Brother’s holdings in Tacoma’s Central Business District just got a bit larger. On April 28th the Haub Brother Enterprise Trust closed on two parcels owned by the United States Postal Service. The two parcels located on A Street between 13th and 14th measure 32,600 square feet and are county assessed at $2,674,900. The purchase price was not yet available.

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  #202  
Old Posted May 18, 2009, 2:28 AM
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The Downtown Development Express is back on track after a rough stop

DAN VOELPEL; THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Oops. More than two years ago, I sounded the trumpet to herald the imminent construction of Metropolitan Real Estate Development’s latest gleaming downtown Tacoma contribution: nine stories of mostly condominiums atop a parking garage, grocery store and coffeehouse.

“We just have to pick the exterior materials and we’re ready to go,” Gwen Ingels, co-managing director of operations and finance, told me.

I nicknamed the company, “The M-RED Express” for its aggressive construction portfolio and plans.

Then the Hand of the Economy intervened.

Condominium sales plummeted, a skittish lender backed out, turnover in the City of Tacoma’s permitting office delayed approvals as new hires learned the regulations.

The 1-acre lot at the corner of South 25th Street and Yakima Avenue lay fenced and fallow. Until now.

With some tweaks to the project mix, a revamped construction method, a re-energized lender and all the permits, graders and backhoes have started carving out the hillside.

Thank goodness the corner grocery store and coffeehouse will stay in the mix. Add in a sandwich shop.

But 163 apartments, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, will replace the condominiums. M-RED will use quick-and-easy, prefabricated core and plank materials. The exterior will feature a metal and ironwork pattern that evokes a historic look. The budget has slipped from $42 million to $36 million.

“In this market, you have to build things fast” to pay less interest on the construction loan, said Casey Ingels, co-managing director of M-RED. He expects to finish the project by Oct. 31.

In the frothy days of condo construction from 2005 to 2007, I used to find Ingels, an attorney, in a suit and tie at his Pacific Avenue office. These days, you’ll find him in jeans and sweatshirt at the construction site where he serves as the day-to-day project manager.

“I love it,” Ingels said. “It’s what I used to do, and to get back out there has been a lot of fun. Besides, it’s not a good time to sit in an office trying to put together deals because there aren’t many deals to be made right now.”

Oh, how times have changed.

But one important thing hasn’t changed: M-RED’s penchant for making neighborhoods.

The hillside above the University of Washington Tacoma overlooking downtown and the port industrial area has seen plenty of new townhouses. The blocks around M-RED’s project, officially called The Jackson Building, also includes an old Tacoma Housing Authority apartment complex, but nary an urban service – except at the Christ Life Center Church across the street.

I pulled out my notes from two years ago, to see how Ingels described the project: “Retail is an amenity for the residents here. The ability to walk to this corner from all of the town homes around for groceries. … And on a nice day, it would be nice to walk down and have a cup of coffee. I think it’s sad to have these high-density residential cores with no plans for walking retail. If you want a community downtown, you have to have some amenities to support the residential.”

Does he still believe that? Absolutely.

“We think our project pulls that whole neighborhood together,” Ingels said. “With the retail, it’s not just town homes. Neighborhoods are better when there’s a good mix.”

And best when that mix includes a 10,000-square-foot grocer.

Ingels won’t yet name any of the retailers that have signed letters of intent to take the ground-floor space. But he offers this teaser about the out-of-state grocer: “There’s nothing you can liken it to in this market. It will have a small produce section. … It will definitely anchor that corner. It’s a cool concept.”

As for the apartments, Ingels believes they will appeal to UWT students even though they sit eight blocks from the nearest corner of the campus.

And one other thing hasn’t changed since 2007 – Ingels’ confidence.

“We always perform,” he said. “This is $36 million and 230,000 square feet. What’s the last thing built in Tacoma that was that large?”

Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785

dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com

This is my hood so I am excited to see all the new people and some retail!
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  #203  
Old Posted May 29, 2009, 8:51 PM
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Davita To Stay in Tacoma

Davita To Stay in Tacoma

As many of you know, Davita has been looking for a new northwest headquarters. Beginning with an RFP released last year, the major Tacoma employer began looking for 200k square feet of office space with expansion capabilities to 300k in five years. Locations have been considered all over the region and, for a while, it really looked like we may lose the company. Well, a decision has been made …

In a voicemail message sent to all 800 Tacoma based employees, Davita management today announced that the company is staying in Tacoma and in their main office at 15th and Pacific. To increase capacity they’ll be leasing additional floors in the Columbia Bank Building. At this point, Davita has employees in several offices around downtown. The goal will be to slowly integrate these employees into the two locations.

In case you didn’t know … this is very good news.


Previously on Exit133
Davita Close to a Decision
Davita Looking for a New Home in 2011



Press Release: DaVita Extends Lease to Maintain Strong Business Presence in Tacoma

TACOMA, Wash., May 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading provider of kidney care services for those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), today announced it has completed negotiations to extend its lease on office space at 1423 Pacific Avenue as well as at the Columbia Bank Center. DaVita currently has nearly 900 teammates (employees) located in Tacoma.

"Tacoma is a great location for many of DaVita's important support operations and the wonderful teammates that help make DaVita one of 'The Best Places to Work,' according to Modern Healthcare Magazine. We are very pleased to extend our presence here," said Jim Hilger, Vice President and Controller at DaVita. "The City of Tacoma and the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County have gone out of their way to assist DaVita during our search for solutions to our local office space needs. We appreciate their strong support and look forward to continuing our relationship."

Further details and terms of the lease agreements are not being released.


El Segundo, CA not so lukcy: DaVita to move headquarters from Calif. to Denver
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  #204  
Old Posted Jun 3, 2009, 6:29 PM
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Tacoma to Russell: Free Parking!

$47.5 million in perks for Russell

The City of Tacoma sweetened its bid to prevent Russell Investments from relocating by offering 330 virtually free parking spaces and other perks totaling up to $47.5 million in direct public support, city leaders revealed Tuesday.

When infrastructure benefits are added in, including some federal and state funds, the package could be worth up to $93 million.

Additional benefits proposal (pdf)

If they build a new HQ in Tacoma the city will pay for 500 parking spaces at the site.
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  #205  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2009, 4:02 AM
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Ruston area (all from 05/16)

Copperline Condos:



The Commencement:















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  #206  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2009, 5:57 AM
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Tacoma's deal for DaVita will include neighborhood facelift

By John Gillie; The News Tribune

Expect to see a more appealing Pacific Avenue between South Eighth and South 15th Street within a couple of years as a result of the City of Tacoma’s successful effort to keep its second-largest downtown employer.

A sidewalk-to-sidewalk facelift of downtown’s main street is part of the incentive package that persuaded DaVita Inc. to stay in downtown Tacoma.

DaVita, which operates a network of 1,400 kidney treatment centers nationwide, last week announced it will sign a new lease on the former Schoenfeld Furniture Store at South 15th Street and Pacific Avenue, and lease three floors of the nearby Columbia Bank Building to house its accounting and billing staff.

The company now employs some 900 workers in the former furniture store building, and it expects to add more over the next decade.

The El Segundo, Calif. company (now moving its headquarters to Denver) had searched the area for new quarters before deciding to stay put and to expand downtown.

Elly Walkowiak, project manager for the City of Tacoma Department of Economic Development, said that in addition to the Pacific Avenue makeover, the city added several other inducements, including: business and occupation tax forgiveness based on the number of new employees the company hires, federal tax benefits and low interest loans so that the Oakland, Calif., owner of the Schoenfeld Building can upgrade the former furniture store.

The city is still putting together the funding package for the Pacific Avenue upgrade, she said. The city expects to draw from local, state and federal sources for the project. That project is also likely to include a new transportation center and parking garage near the Tacoma Dome to serve commuters and downtown workers.

Walkowiak said the total cost of the project is likely to exceed $35 million.

The Pacific Avenue project could also help keep downtown’s largest employer, Russell Investments, downtown.

Russell is considering offers from both Seattle and Tacoma for its headquarters. Russell was founded in Tacoma in 1936 and has its headquarters on A Street now.

The DaVita deal includes a yearly $500 business and occupation tax forgiveness per new employee. That tax forgiveness will last for five years. To qualify, those employees must make $16.19 an hour or more.

Tacoma projects that DaVita could hire about 400 new workers during the 10-year-lease period. About 270 or so would meet the income qualifications, she said.

The city also told DaVita that it would be eligible for a one-time $1,500 tax credit from the federal government for each new employee who works and lives in the downtown area. The city is estimating about 20 new hires could qualify.

The building owner, Horizon Properties, is potentially eligible for about $2 million in federal Section 108 low-interest loans to pay the costs of updating the Schoenfeld Building to meet DaVita’s needs. The interest rate on that loan is likely to be about 2 percent, including administrative fees from the city.

In addition to the low interest rate, which could translate to a lower rental rate for DaVita, the federal money means that the building owner won’t have to search for conventional loans for the rehab, a difficult task in today’s environment, said Walkowiak.
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  #207  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2009, 5:03 PM
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Tacoma building so green it needs to be mowed

Pacific Plaza: Building expected to set standard for environmental construction

That’s not just dirt they’re spreading on the roof at Pacific Plaza, there between South 12th and 13th streets and between Pacific Avenue and Commerce Street in downtown Tacoma.

It’s Tagro – a product composed of recycled material best described as compost. Including biosolids. With sawdust and other growth media.

Now brown, that roof will soon be green, as will the building itself – but in another way.

Flowers will bloom and the rain that falls in the autumn will be collected in a cistern located below street level. Grass will grow and flowers will colorfully awaken, all to the delight of the workers who inhabit the higher floors of nearby office buildings.

Green roof size matters: “We’re pretty sure it’s the largest in Washington,” Putnam said.



PHOTOS BY PETER HALEY/THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Whole story here
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  #208  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2009, 9:04 AM
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Jake... you know much about the apparent apartments being built on 13th & Fawcett?
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  #209  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2009, 6:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Tacoma Boy View Post
Jake... you know much about the apparent apartments being built on 13th & Fawcett?
Do you mean 13th and G Street? It is going to be low-income family housing.



Guadalupe Vista Housing Will Provide 50 Units, Supportive Services for Formerly Homeless People in Tacoma’s Hilltop Neighborhood

I am all for low-income housing but I really wish they would spread it around the city more. That neighborhood (11th-19th/ Tacoma Ave-Yakima Ave.) is being saturated by hundreds of new low-income units.
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  #210  
Old Posted Jun 30, 2009, 7:57 PM
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Great, more infill!
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  #211  
Old Posted Jun 30, 2009, 9:35 PM
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Ah, nice. Thanks, Jake.
I'm glad to see some organization cares enough to help out our less fortunate neighbors.
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  #212  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2009, 4:58 PM
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First unit completed at The Commencement (it'll be used temporarily as the sales center).

http://rustonhome.blogspot.com/2009/...d-opening.html

Construction on the new roadway down to the water is supposed to start soon.
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  #213  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2009, 7:26 PM
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Developer reveals waterfront hotel plan

JOHN GILLIE; The News Tribune
Published: 07/01/09 12:05 am

A Bellingham hotel developer formally unveiled a plan Tuesday to build two hotels and an office building on a near-downtown Tacoma waterfront site.

Hollander Investments’ hotel construction plan could fulfill the Foss Waterway Development Authority’s long-held desire to bring guest lodging to the waterway.

The authority has struggled unsuccessfully for five years with two developers to get a hotel built on the formerly industrial inlet of Commencement Bay.

But while Hollander appears to have better access to money than prior developers and ample prior hotel construction and operational experience, much remains to be done before groundbreaking can happen. Hollander Investments built and operates downtown’s Courtyard by Marriott and two other hotels in Puyallup.

Among the jobs that must be done:

• Further development of specific plans for the three buildings.

• Approval of those designs by the authority’s design committee.

• Creation of a revised development agreement satisfactory to both the authority and Hollander.

• Sale of the property to Hollander by its present owner, Robert Thurston of Seattle. Thurston spent four years trying to develop hotel plans he could get financed. In the end, he failed.

The authority board Tuesday voted unanimously to begin the hard work of revising the existing development plan and set its Aug. 19 meeting to approve that plan.

Developer Mark Hollander said Tuesday that he hopes to buy the property from Thurston by Sept. 1. If he doesn’t have to seek new shoreline permits for the project, construction of the first hotel could begin by January, Hollander told the Foss board.

Under Hollander’s preliminary plan, the buildings would be constructed in phases, with one hotel being built first. The unbuilt half of the site would serve as a staging area for construction of the first nine-story hotel building. The hotel site is between the Esplanade condominiums and Thea’s Landing on Dock Street.

The second hotel would follow, with the office structure being built last. Together, the three structures would form a U-shaped building with the open end of the U facing the waterway. Collectively, the three buildings would contain nearly 260,000 square feet. The two hotels would have about 250 rooms together. Moving ahead on the second hotel and office building will likely depend on the health of the economy both nationally and locally, he said.

The decision by Tacoma’s Russell Investments whether to stay in Tacoma or move to Seattle could play a large role in that decision, he said. Russell is expected to make that decision this fall.

Hollander’s initial plans call for one hotel becoming a Hilton, either a Garden Inn or the more modest Hampton Inn. The second would be a Marriott extended stay facility. The developer told the board he’s unsure which will come first. The answer will depend on what best fits the mix of hotel rooms existing or planned in Tacoma.

The hotelier’s plans for mid-range properties drew a caution from former Foss board member Frank Jacobs, himself a former developer and former head of the authority’s design review committee. Jacobs reminded authority board members that the authority had envisioned a boutique hotel on the property – a smaller upscale establishment that would make best use of the rare waterfront site.

The authority shouldn’t rush in drawing up a new development agreement because it could regret its hasty decisions for up to 100 years, he said.

“We already made some mistakes once,” he said, referring to the initial developer. “Let’s get it right this time.”
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  #214  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2009, 7:42 PM
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Tacoma named Best real estate market in the USA from 2008-2013:


While the national median home price is not expected to climb much, if at all, in the next few years, there will be lots of movement at the local level. Some markets are poised to do quite nicely — others will tank. Based on the Case-Shiller index, Moody’s Economy.com forecast the 10 best and worst markets between the fourth quarter of 2008 and the fourth quarter of 2013. Markets where prices didn’t go sky-high will be spared the lows; hence the good showing for Ohio. But the experts say there’s lots of hot air left in bubble markets such as Florida.

10 Best Markets:

Tacoma, WA (metro area) 20.7%
Boulder, CO 17.5%
Toledo, OH 16.7%
Memphis, TN 16.5%
Pittsburgh 16.0%
Cleveland 14.4%
Dayton, OH 13.6%
Akron, OH 13.4%
San Jose, CA 13.3%
Colorado Springs, CO 13.3%

10 Worst Markets:

Miami (metro area) -40.3%
Orlando, FL -33.3%
Fort Lauderdale, FL (metro area) -26.4%
Jacksonville, FL -32.2%
Riverside, CA -25.6%
Los Angeles (metro area) -22.9%
West Palm Beach, FL (metro area) -20.2%
Tampa, FL -19.6%
Virginia Beach, VA -18.2%
New York -18.1%
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  #215  
Old Posted Jul 8, 2009, 4:36 AM
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Hilarious!
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  #216  
Old Posted Jul 8, 2009, 2:35 PM
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Builder plans Tacoma trifecta

JOHN GILLIE; The News Tribune



Two developers are crafting an ambitious plan that could accomplish three goals high on downtown Tacoma’s wish list in a single swoop: restoring the historic but crumbling Elks Temple building, attracting a McMenamins brew pub-hotel and opening a new specialty grocery store in the central city.

Tacoma developer Grace Pleasants and development partner Rick Moses of Southern California on Tuesday unveiled plans to buy the 93-year-old former Elks Temple at 565 Broadway and a large tract of undeveloped land north of the temple from Portland developer Williams and Dame.

The two would immediately resell the white-stucco, five-story temple to Portland’s McMenamins for restoration and conversion into a combination hotel, brew-pub, spa and entertainment venue. On the lot to the north, under the developers’ plans, the City of Tacoma would build a five-story, 300-stall garage that would serve as a base for a six-story structure that includes a 22,500-square-foot grocery store on the Broadway level topped by five stories of apartments.

The developers are relying on federal grants and loans to accomplish this project.

Pleasants and Moses say the project has the potential to jump-start further redevelopment in the north end of downtown Tacoma.

“The Elks is a fabulous old building, a great piece of Tacoma history,” Moses said.

Pleasants, who redeveloped the Albers Mill building on the Thea Foss Waterway downtown and redeveloped several historic structures into offices in Alaska, said she believes the timing is right.

“We see this project coming on the market at the right time with the McMenamins’ reputation attracting customers not only from Tacoma but from around the Northwest,” she said.

Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma said he too is excited about the prospect that the Elks Temple, for decades a crumbling eyesore attacked by vandals and unkind elements, could finally find an attractive re-use.

“This is the most ambitious and coherent program we’ve seen,” he said about Pleasants’ and Moses’ plan. “It has more specificity and focus.”

Prior plans for the Elks building have raised and then dashed hopes a handful of times in recent years. A California man held onto the structure for decades without moving forward to restore or even secure it from vandals. His family sold it after his death. Experienced Portland developer Williams and Dame then bought the building with plans to erect a 25-story condo tower in the north lot and make the Elks building a grand entrance to the condo structure. But when the condo market collapsed, Williams and Dame put the building back on the market.

Since then the building has been proposed to be converted to a bus terminal and senior housing but both those plans didn’t happen.

Pleasants and Moses say their deal is already past some of its biggest hurdles.

• Williams and Dame has accepted their offer to buy the building and the adjacent property. The prices was not disclosed.

• McMenamins has agreed to buy the Elks Temple and convert it into one of their signature hotel and entertainment venues.

• City officials have reacted favorably to the developers’ proposal for the city to construct a garage to the north of the temple to serve the hotel, the grocery store, the apartments and the public.

• A study the two commissioned showed a strong market for a new grocery in downtown with the potential for winning more than 40 percent of the business in the trade area and more if the market was a specialty retailer such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Pleasants and Moses said grocers they’ve met with so far have shown strong interest in the site. The market would be about 22,500 square feet, a bit smaller than Metropolitan Market’s Proctor district store.


For McMenamins, the acquisition of the Elks Temple would be the fulfillment of a long-held desire.

“The Elks Temple is a great location for us to combine the rich history of the building with music, art, food and beverage, a meeting space for weddings/wake and everything in between and to provide a special place for the community to gather,” wrote McMenamins founding brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin to Pleasants and Moses. Neither was available for comment Tuesday.

The McMenamin brothers told Pleasants that they had repeatedly tried to buy the Elks but were rebuffed. They made an offer to the former California owner, but he rejected it. And they tried to work a deal with Williams and Dame, but the McMenamins wanted the whole building, not just part of the building that the Portland developer was willing to lease them.

Under the preliminary plan, McMenamins would restore the pool on the Commerce Street level and create a spa and exercise area there. On the level above in one of the Elks’ former ballrooms, the brothers would build a performing arts venue. Above that, they would create a floor level with a pub and bars.

In the two-story space where the lodge had its main assembly room, the hoteliers would create 50 hotel rooms.

“The McMenamins have told us they expect to attract 600 to 800 people a night when they have performances there,” Pleasants said.

In addition to the adjacent city parking garage, entertainment customers would have a privately owned lot adjacent to the Spanish Steps as a parking place. The Spanish Steps abuts the temple’s south side.

Tacoma’s Link light rail system, which connects parking near the Tacoma Dome and other parking facilities, has its northern terminus half a block from the temple.

The Tacoma Spur, Interstate 705, would feed freeway traffic directly to the new garage entrance on Commerce Street.

Moses and Pleasants say they plan to leverage historic tax credits and government loans and grants to help finance the building.

Because the new building would have apartments, Pleasants said banks have been far more receptive to their proposals than had they opted for condos.

“Say the ‘C-word,’ and bankers stop the conversation right there,” she said.

Bob Levin, City of Tacoma economic development division manager, said the city is working to develop a plan that could help make the new deal a reality.

“We’re doing our due diligence now,” he said.

Pleasants and Moses said they hope to have the city’s commitment in hand to build the garage in time for a closing on the building in late September or October.

Baarsma said he supports the city’s participation in the project. The City of Tacoma has helped pay for parking garages in other projects including the Museum of Glass and the Court 17 apartment building.

If planning and permitting move ahead as planned, construction should begin in the fall of 2010 with a simultaneous opening of the McMenamins and the apartment building in early 2012. While they are hopeful that a grocery store client can be signed soon, the failure to secure a grocery would not be a deal breaker, Moses said.
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  #217  
Old Posted Jul 8, 2009, 5:19 PM
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How would a grocer *not* want to be in that location? The closest thing down there is a mini at 10th and Commerce. Other than that you have to climb the hill which transit visitors and others to downtown who can't climb hills don't often do.

This would be my dream come true. I really hope this happens.
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Old Posted Aug 12, 2009, 2:14 PM
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Rescue plan arises for falling Luzon

TACOMA: New developer wants to buy and rehabilitate building

JOHN GILLIE; The News Tribune



A new would-be rescuer emerged Tuesday for downtown Tacoma’s historic but structurally crumbling Luzon Building.

Tacoma contractor and developer Igor Kunista told the City Council on Tuesday that he wants to begin shoring up the leaning brick walls of the six-story building this week if he can buy it from its present owner.

But in the meantime, the city’s Public Works Department on Tuesday afternoon closed South 13th Street and planned to close one southbound lane of Pacific Avenue adjacent to the building to protect the public.

The city fears the building, inundated by rains for decades, could collapse. The building’s north wall is already leaning some 5 inches toward South 13th Street.

If Kunitsa’s plan falls through or if building owner The Gintz Group can’t find new financing to rehabilitate the building itself, the city may step in to install reinforcements to keep the building intact.

News of Kunitsa’s interest came as both Gintz and the city were searching desperately for financially feasible ways to save the building, designed by famed Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Root.

Economic development project manager Ellen Walkowiak told the council that the city has been working with Kunitsa to remove potential roadblocks to the rehab project.

Several plans to find a productive reuse of the 118-year-old former bank building have been proposed over the last few years, but none proved doable. Those plans called for converting the building to corporate apartments, to condominiums or to offices and retail spaces.

Kunitsa’s plan calls for him to invest $2.35 million in cash in the historic building. The remainder of the $6 million in construction cost would be paid with a $2 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank and a $1.65 million low-interest loan from the City of Tacoma.

The city had offered that same loan to the Gintz Group, but the Tacoma developer has been unable to find tenants to rent the offices in the rehabilitated structure. Gintz’ banker wants signed leases for most of the building before agreeing to provide financing. Robert Hailey, a consultant to Kunitsa, claims several tenants have shown strong interest in signing up for office space if Kunitsa rehabs the structure.

Kunitsa, owner of Serpanok Construction Inc., said after the council study session that he believes he can rehabilitate the Luzon more economically than Gintz because he would be both the building’s developer and its general contractor. Gintz would have to hire an outside general contractor.

Kunitsa, an immigrant from Ukraine, has lived in Tacoma for 18 years. He said he has investment properties in South Carolina as well as his Tacoma-based construction company.

That construction company has worked on several local high schools, on the rehabilitation of Fort Nisqually and on the overhaul of the Metropolitan Development Council building downtown, according to the company’s Web site.

Gintz executive Ron Gintz said Kunitsa and Hailey came to The Gintz Group last year expressing interest in buying the building but didn’t follow through with an offer.

Gintz said he doesn’t want to throw cold water on a deal that could save the historic structure, but that he has reservations that Kinitsa could acquire the building, get permits and make the necessary financial arrangements within the next few days or weeks.

Any deal hinges on Kunitsa and The Gintz Group agreeing on the building’s purchase price. The Gintz Group bought the structure for $83,000, but Gintz claims it has invested hundreds of thousands more in design, structural engineering and historic research on the structure. The Gintz Group’s asking price for the building is now $500,000.

If the group doesn’t sell the building, it potentially could be liable for the costs of any engineering work and construction the city might do to make the structure safe.

The Gintz Group is working with a nonprofit agency to lease part of the building. If that lease goes through, the group might be able to obtain construction financing for the structure.

Council members at the session expressed strong interest in Kinitsa’s proposal. Deputy mayor Julie Anderson said special recognition should also go to The Gintz Group for its efforts that have kept the building alive during a critical period in its existence.


Past Stories:

Gravity not only force against Luzon
But if gravity wins soon and the 118-year-old building is taken down as a hazard to public safety, it also means the idiots win. Those would be the Seattle managers of Cornerstone Development who determined in the early 1990s that the key to the renaissance of Tacoma was the demolition of a block of Pacific Avenue commercial buildings between South 13th and 15th streets.


Tacoma Luzon Building deemed ‘Life Safety Hazard’

The historic downtown Tacoma Luzon Building poses a “Life Safety Hazard” and may soon collapse onto the streets and sidewalks below.

A presentation Tuesday to a Tacoma City Council study session offered a look at the state of the building, built in 1890 and designed by Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Root.
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  #219  
Old Posted Aug 14, 2009, 1:09 AM
jake840 jake840 is offline
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New design for Brewery District hotel gains informal approval


Posted by John Gillie @ 04:03:56 pm

A fresh design – taller and more compatible with the surrounding historic structures than previous proposals – emerged this week for a new hotel in downtown Tacoma’s Brewery District.

The new concept, the result of than 18 months’ redesign effort driven in part by concerns of the Tacoma’s Landmarks Preservations Commission, Wednesday won informal approval and even praise from commission members.

“It’s great to get such a good response from the commission,” said Seattle developer Han Kim after Wednesday evening’s Landmarks Commission session.

"We got pretty beat up the last couple of times we were here.”

The commission had criticized the original conceptual designs for being too similar to “cookie cutter” hotel concepts more appropriate for freeway hotel sites rather than as part of an urban historic area.

The hotel site at South 21st and C streets is adjacent to the former Heidelberg Brewery building within the Union Station Conservation District.

“This is a big step forward,” said commission chairman Mark McIntire after after Kim’s group had presented their revised design at Wednesday’s commission meeting.

“We appreciate your responsiveness,” he said. “It shows a lot of diligence on your part.”
Kim and his Hotel Concepts development group first came to the commission in December 2007 with a preliminary plan for the new hotel.

Based on that initial feedback – much of it critical – from commission members, the developers presented a new concept in September last year for a pair of hotels. But the commission remained concerned that the hotels would clash with the prevailing architecture of the former warehouse area.



The newest design for a single 160-room hotel – likely to be branded a Holiday Inn Express – differs significantly from last September’s concept:

* The new design would occupy only an existing parking lot and the site of an old, featureless warehouse. The original designs called for demolition of parts of the brewery itself. Although the brewery, unused for its original purpose for more than two decades, was not architecturally significant, some historic building advocates didn’t want it summarily demolished because of its pivotal role for many years in Tacoma’s economy.

* The new building would rise eight stories high with six floors of hotel rooms and two floors of parking. The previous concept reached a maximum of five or six stories.

* The fresh design calls for seven stories of brick or masonry facing with only the top floor covered with stucco-like material. The older design concept called for several stories of stucco cladding. Commissioners feared that the brewery district hotel, if allowed to be built with so much stucco facing, would look similar to the Marriott Courtyard Tacoma near the Greater Tacoma and Trade Center. That hotel’s design has been critically panned for looking too much like an hotel design drawn from a corporate hotel catalog.

* The new design’s windows have been modified to more closely resemble windows in the muscular warehouse buildings of the district with distinct framing and side-by-side windows in each hotel room.
n The number of different types of bricks has been reduced from three to one to unclutter the building’s look.

* Through-the-wall heating and air conditioning units have been incorporated into the widow units below the glass. Many less expensive hotels have separate air conditioning unit exhaust grills penetrating the outside walls a foot or so below the windows.

* The ground floor hotel areas have been modified to include larger windows and awnings mimicing the retail shops in the area. The hotel, however, won’t have any retail spaces for rent.

* A rooftop metal-clad cupola resembles a similar, but larger structure atop the old brewery building that bore the sign identifying the building. The hotel cupola would be a backdrop for the Holiday Inn Express sign.

City historic preservation officer Reuben McKnight said the developers should seek formal commission approval for their design when it’s 75 to 90 percent complete. Johnson and Kim said completing the design could take several months.

In the meantime, Kim said he’ll begin looking for financing for the project, not an easy task during the current recession. At least two other hotels are planned for Tacoma, one on the Foss Waterway and the other near Point Defiance park at Point Ruston, the former site of the old Asarco copper smelter.

The new hotel, Kim said, won’t compete directly with those more pricey waterfront properties. The price range for rooms in the new hotel is expected to be in $100-plus range.
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  #220  
Old Posted Aug 14, 2009, 6:34 PM
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mSeattle mSeattle is offline
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The image you posted is the new design?
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