Challenges Continue for Elks on Broadway
For some reason the words “parking” and “Tacoma” together never lead to a smooth road for development. Or at least that’s how it seems sometimes. Case in point: the latest on the Elks on Broadway development.
The large mixed-use project immediately adjacent to the Elks Building is in trouble. The project missed a deadline last fall to prove they had financing. McMenamins no longer needs the hotel rooms. The developers now claim to have financing available, but are still negotiating with the City over the parking garage that forms the foundation of their building.
The Elks on Broadway update presented at Tuesday’s City Council study session isn’t the best news. After an analysis, it’s been determined that the city owned parking structure won’t be a money-making proposition. 111 of the 260 parking spaces would be leased to the 111 apartment units now planned for the building. That leaves more than half without full-time use (read: without full-time money coming in). Current estimates suggest a loss of $10.2 million through 2040. As you may have heard, the City’s parking enterprise fund is in trouble. This won’t help.
One proposal to keep the parking project from being a $10+ million loser over time is to dip into Local Revitalization Funds. These state funds, which are available for projects throughout most of downtown Tacoma, come in payments of $500,000 over 25 years.
Is this the best use of these funds? What should the city do about this project?
Read more from The News Tribune.
Update: And here’s Peter Callaghan’s article from today.
Filed under: McMenamins Elks Project
7 comments
R RR Anderson February 9, 2012
stick a fork in it.
B bob February 9, 2012
Find a more affordable contractor, duh! This project could be built for less than the projected loss!
T tacoma1 February 9, 2012
That neighborhood can’t support 75 cent/hr parking meters. Why would the city put up $10M of taxpayer money for something that only 2 Tacoman’s (Pleasants & Moses) can benefit from.
J jesse February 9, 2012
Is the city parking requirements killing this project if it doesn’t include over 200and parking spots?
T tacoma1 February 9, 2012
I don’t know. If the apartment bldg only needs 111 stalls, why don’t they build 111 stalls and call it a day?
J Jesse February 10, 2012
That’s exactly what I’m getting at tacoma1. =)
T tacoma1 February 10, 2012
My guess is that the 149 unwanted parking spots translates directly into the profit that the developers want to make at the expense of Tacoma tax payers.
Instead of parking spaces, why don’t they put in self storage spaces and rent the space out that way? Just an idea…….