Foss Site One...More Condos?

(The following reflects the opinions of Jamie from thriceallamerican, “guest editor”, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Exit 133.)

Just the other day, some of the comments in this thread diverged into a discussion of the lack of Class A office space downtown (and in Tacoma in general).  Now today, Dan Voelpel at the TNT comes down on the Foss Waterway Development Authority for choosing a bid for Site 1 (closest to the 21st Street Bridge on Dock Street) that favors condos over office space.  (They are proposing ~112k sqft residential vs. 27k sqft office, or up to 60k sqft office if they find there is demand…compare that to 110k sqft of parking.)

I will admit that a lot of elements about the chosen bid from Prium Properties are attractive, from corridors to the esplanade and bike racks to rainwater catchment systems integrated to the building roof, but I really wish that the Foss board had stuck to their guns on their wish for office space.  Prium is of course perfectly free to state that they don’t believe that they can fill an office building, but if the bid process is for something that is primarily office space, by God let’s not choose something that favors residential space (already rampant in Foss projects) over that.  It just comes across as playing favorites with the developers instead of choosing what we want in a building.

I just don’t think it’s accurate to say that people aren’t looking for office space in Tacoma so we shouldn’t build it.  The more accurate statement would be that people don’t look for office space in Tacoma because there’s no Class A office space to be had.  I don’t think this is too much of a chicken/egg scenario, because the solution is simple: if you build it, they will come.  Big “right on” to Voelpel for nailing them on it.