Groundbreaking for Urban Waters on April 15th
We just received word that work is about to begin on the Center for Urban Waters and you’re invited to the groundbreaking.
The vision of a marine science research center in Tacoma will take a giant step toward reality when the groundbreaking of the Center for Urban Waters is celebrated Wednesday, April 15, at 10 a.m. The public event will be held on the street adjacent to the building site at 326 E. D St., on the east side of the Thea Foss Waterway.
Congressman Norm Dicks will join City of Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma and Councilmember Connie Ladenburg for the celebration. Other speakers include David Dicks, executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership; Dr. Joel E. Baker, professor and Port of Tacoma Chair in Environmental Science at the University of Washington Tacoma; Jim Waldo, chair of the Urban Waters Board of Directors; and Clare Petrich, east side Foss business owner and Port of Tacoma commissioner.
No on-site parking is available for the event. Shuttles will take guests directly to the celebration from the Tacoma Dome Parking Lot A (every 10 minutes from 9:30-10:20 a.m.) or the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market St. (every 15 minutes from 9:30-10:15 a.m.).
More information is available at www.cityoftacoma.org/urbanwaters
Previously on Exit133 (search)
Filed under: Developments, waterfront
12 comments
D Dave L. April 9, 2009
Although the project’s timeline doesn’t officially go back that far, I’m curious if there’s any direct lineage in vision between this project and the “Northwest Waters” aquarium project once also envisioned to be on the Thea Foss. An idea tossed around ca. 1990, back in Tacoma’s Cornerstone Development days.
T Thorax O'Tool April 10, 2009
About time!
S Squid April 10, 2009
Hey, when you have a building that costs $585/foot, it takes time.
J Jesse April 11, 2009
Sweet.
T Thorax O'Tool April 11, 2009
I’ll build it for $584.99/foot and do it in 99% of the time.
J J. Cote April 12, 2009
What an incredible waste of taxpayer money and resources. The same jobs can be done in a double-wide parked at the landfill. We just wouldn’t be able to brag about it. Much.
P Princess Adora April 12, 2009
Yet you never hear anyone brag about how well-rated and surprisingly “green” the Tacoma Landfill is…
S Squid April 13, 2009
It appears I was mistaken. The article says the building cost is $36.9 million and 51,000 square feet. There must be some mistake there as that comes out to $723/sq. foot. That is impossible.
D David Boe April 14, 2009
No it is not impossible to spend $723/sf for a Platinum Level LEED Certified Laboratory Building located directly adjacent to an urban waterway. Pretty sweet deal for a start-up proposition I’d say.
S sweet digs April 14, 2009
wish i was an environmental services engineer. strange that there hasn’t been identified a better highest & best use for the site and public funds than a $31m “showcase for the city’s commitment to sustainable building practices.” maybe that’s the lemonade tacoma citizens get from the chamber’s amendment of the S-8 zone to prohibit residential uses.
although one might say that the convention center was a bigger waste of money. but it wasn’t for offices for city employees, that.
T Thorax O'Tool April 14, 2009
The site for Urban Waters is practically on the doorstep of that tank farm (I think it’s owned by Sound Refining?). Granted they’re not actively refining anymore, but they are still in business as a distributor.
Those big white tanks are full of some things that aren’t very nice, mainly gasolines, diesel, Jet-A and kerosene… all stuff that would be an ecological pain (or nightmare even) and really ironic if it spilled into the Foss right in front of Urban Waters.
Anyone ever wonder what that kind of juxtaposition could lead to? Will having all this next to each other bolster both of them or will it have negative impacts?
M Michael April 14, 2009
Yay, finally!