A Point Ruston Update

The Economic Development Committee heard from the Point Ruston team yesterday on their progress. For those that don’t know which project this is, Point Ruston is the extremely large mixed use project on the old Asarco site in Ruston. 800 – 1000 condos, town homes, and apartments. 228,000 square feet of retail/office space. 150 room waterfront hotel. This is a big project. And it overlooks a beautiful portion of Puget Sound. A few of the highlights from yesterday’s meeting:

• Construction on the site starts in 2008.
• Environmental review nearing completion. All 14,000 (!) pages are available on the internets here.
• Building permits are in progress.
• One of the great pieces of the project is Point Ruston Waterwalk- a 100 foot minimum width promenade that will be decorated with art create by local artists.
• 60% of the project will be open space, promenade or other non-built uses, and all residential units will be “Built Green” certified.
• All primary buildings will have a water feature and an art feature.

The largest issue facing the Point Ruston group and the City of Tacoma is the creation of an LID to facilitate the realignment of Ruston Way. The proposed street changes will cross jurisdiction lines with the Town of Ruston, so Tacoma and Ruston must create a joint LID agreement to process bids and manage construction. If the Ruston/Tacoma negotiations go according to plan, construction on the LID project should start May 2009.

Since we’re talking about Point Ruston… Their “floating sales center” has moved into its new home in front of Johnny’s Seafood Company at 1199 Dock Street. Here are a few photos we received from Point Ruston via email:

(click on the thumbnail for full size images)