Park for Sale
Pugnetti Park, recently vacated by Occupy Tacoma, is for sale. An article from The News Tribune today sheds a little more light on the status of the still fenced (for safety reasons – someone could hurt themselves…) park.
WSDOT acquired the property as part of the I-705 project, and turned it into a park in 1987 (named after a News Tribune editor). According to the TNT, the park was operated by the City of Tacoma until about five years ago, when its maintenance was taken over by the company that runs the adjacent parking lot.
The City doesn’t want to buy it, neither does Metro Parks. The History Museum and UWT are also on the list of names mentioned, but there’s no word, and no asking price yet. We don’t see it listed on the WSDOT Auction page … yet. The park will remain fenced indefinitely.
Since it’s not owned by the City, Tacoma won’t see any revenue from a potential sale, but a perpetually fenced-in corner lot doesn’t exactly say “welcome to the City of Destiny” so, who wants a park? (Careful before you step up – we hear someone could get hurt there.) Now that we’ve reached this point, what would you like to see happen with the space?
Read more from The News Tribune.
Filed under: General, pugnetti-park
7 comments
B Buck Futz March 15, 2012
Another parking lot.
D Dylan March 15, 2012
Would be a great location for a Starbucks drive-thru…
C Catalyst March 15, 2012
I would love to see some sort of garden there. Or a culture hub. Anything other than a parkinglot or ANOTHER Starbucks. I mean, really? You can’t go to one of the 3+ already existing coffee shops in downtown?
Why not leave the park as it is, but gussy it up a little? Add a few unique and native plants? Hold a community event there once or twice? Make it a spot that people WANT to visit? <3
T tacoma1 March 15, 2012
That is a terrible place for a park. Other than the Occupy folks, I’ve never seen any one use it. It’s filled with noise and air pollution from the multi lane road next door.
That location has plenty of visibility. It has to have value as an office building site, or a retail site.
E Erik B. March 15, 2012
I love parks and Tacoma has some great ones. However, other than the Occupy folks, this park is very very rarely used as it is right by a ton of traffic and connected to nothing. I think it should be considered to be sold for someone to place a building on it and add some more life to the area. Pacific Avenue used to have far more buildings on it.
J Jesse March 16, 2012
What a horrible location for a park. Build a mixed use building here along with the next door parking lot. This park shouldn’t be totally eliminated —- only in it’s current format. Move it up the hill (west) a few blocks and expand it on a lot that is deserving of a park.
What about the lot next to (east) the APCC project? It’d make a great park for the brewery district and the APCC project. I suggest an Asian theme with Japanese gardens.
J Jesse March 16, 2012
What a horrible location for a park. Build a mixed use building here along with the next door parking lot. This park shouldn’t be totally eliminated —- only in it’s current format. Move it up the hill (west) a few blocks and expand it on a lot that is deserving of a park.
What about the lot next to (west of Market between 21st and 24th?) the APCC (Asian Pacific Cultural Center) project? It’d make a great park for the brewery district and the APCC project. I suggest an Asian theme with Japanese gardens.