More Information on Hollander's Site 4 Plans
Today’s City of Tacoma Economic Development Committee Meeting began with a presentation by Mark Hollander of Hollander Investments about its proposed mixed-use hotel project on Site 4 of the Foss Waterway – in between Thea’s Landing and the Esplanade.
Hollander is a Bellingham based hotel developer that our City already knows via the Courtyard by Marriott across from the convention center. They own three hotels in Pierce County.
The project will include three to five buildings built over a structured parking garage. The site would include two hotels, an office building, retail, and marine support facilities on the Foss Waterway. While Hollander wants to get started right away on the first hotel to stay ahead of shoreline permits that expire next year, rest of the project will be based on market demand.
Both Marriott and Hilton have visited the site and Marriott has approved it for a 96 unit Residence Inn. According to Hollander, the project will probably begin with the Residence Inn with completion by December 2010. The Hilton project, likely a Hilton Garden Inn, would be 130 units and will be built when feasible along with the office building.
Today’s meeting was intended to begin the discussion over the indemnity agreements needed between the City and the Developer. The purpose of the indemnity would be to allocate the liability for the historical contamination of the Foss Waterway site to the City. This is nothing new and has been done with most of the developers and developments on the Waterway.
Two steps forward …
Previously on Exit133: Hollander Reveals Plans for Foss Site 4
Filed under: Tacoma Business, Waterfront, Developments, Foss Waterway, Hotels, Foss Waterfront, Foss Hotel
6 comments
D drizell August 26, 2009
“The project will include three to five buildings built over a structured parking garage.”
I’m very supportive of any developer that can successfully build something on Site 4, as opposed to constantly making promises but continuing to leave a gaping hole in the ground. I’m curious about what Hollander envisions when they speak of multiple buildings over a parking structure. As with other buildings on the Foss, the water table is high enough to discourage digging too deep. Even with hundreds of residents, Thea’s Landing has failed to fill all its Dock Street retail spaces. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a proposal in which a parking garage faces Dock St. and the waterway side is open for pedestrian activity.
Two major questions in my mind right now: how will these three to five buildings be orientated, and what kind of massing are we talking about?
D Derek staff August 26, 2009
Two major questions in my mind right now: how will these three to five buildings be orientated, and what kind of massing are we talking about?
We have images in handout form. We have asked for electronic versions. The massing is quite similar to Thea’s Landing based on the early sketches. Of course, it will be built in phases that could be several years apart. So, it may not look quite that complete for a while.
N NSHDscott August 26, 2009
Okay, now you have to tell us what these buildings are! I actually kind of like that first one, but I agree it wouldn’t look right on the waterway.
T TW August 27, 2009
Keep an eye on Hollander. He fancies himself an Architect, which is how Tacoma ended up with that steaming turd in front of the Convention Center. I worked on the Conv. Center and we tried really, REALLY hard to convince him to build a more contextually appropriate building, instead of something that looks like it belongs next to I-5 in Lakewood. In the end my firm politely told him to take his business elsewhere since he refused to budge an inch on his “design”.
T Thorax O'Tool August 28, 2009
Those buildings are from all over. The 1st one is from Amsterdam, I think. The second was in Wisconsin somewhere, and god only knows where that rainbow one is from.
The 4th one is a hotel they built in Phoenix and the last one is a development in Chicago… I don’t know if it got built or not.
And @ TW…. I certainly hope we get something more aesthetically pleasing. While I’m not a big fan of this “new style” that everything has nowadays, it’s probably wise to keep whatever is built on the site 4 somehow in harmony with the Esplanade and Thea’s Landing…
C Christine September 3, 2009
I lived in Thea’s when it was new and from several business owners I spoke to who mused about moving there, they all said the rent was way, way too high. One would think that they would lower it considering the dismal retail occupancy, but hey, I don’t own a building, so I wouldn’t know.