Pierce Transit & Developer in Negotiations for Transit-Oriented Development Near the Tacoma Dome

15 comments

• D Dan March 10, 2015

  Interesting project. It is tough being the first building when trying to fundamentally change a neighborhood. The 4th and 5th buildings stand the most to gain, but someone has to be first. This area has more transportation options than probably anywhere in this region outside of the city of Seattle. The neighborhood could b special some day, especially once a park is built on the south end of the Foss, or if someone ever fixes up Freighthouse Square (I have my fingers crossed that the owners reinvest the money that they get from selling a chunk of their building to Amtrak). Right now though, you'd have a hard time convincing me to live there. Best of luck finding the right tenants. I hope they at least have a nice rooftop garden. You market that to folks who like to watch spot trains.

• T thackerspeed March 11, 2015

  PUBLIC NOTICE: City of Tacoma is seeking ideas for a transit-oriented mixed-use development. Prefer theme drawings of buildings that reference elements in the nearby area. For example: Stacked Shipping Containers.

  • J JDHasty March 12, 2015

    It will fit right in next to the piece of junk "public art" that has been sitting in a state of disrepair for well over a decade. The City Code specifically addresses: machinery or appliances or parts of such machinery or appliances, vehicular component parts, iron, steel, old or scrap household goods or hardware. "Storing outside a completely enclosed building items that constitute a threat to the public health, safety or welfare, including but not limited to: old or scrap rope, batteries, paper, trash, rubber debris, tires, waste, used lumber or salvaged wood, machinery or appliances or parts of such machinery or appliances, vehicular component parts, iron, steel, old or scrap household goods or hardware, medications, medical supplies, or medical devices, cut brush or wood including dead or decaying plant material except s contained in a compost pile or orderly stacked firewood if cut in lengths of four feet or less." If you look at the photo accompanying the article above the piece of junk I am referring to can be seen at the far right of the frame. This piece of crap has not been in operable condition in well over a decade and adds to the ambiance the way a 1980 Camaro sitting on blocks adds to the landscape surrounding residence in a single family neighborhood would.

• J JDHasty March 11, 2015

  This Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is not all it is cracked up to be. It will not be occupied for a week before residents are calling the City complaining about everything from criminal activity to transients loitering to noise keeping them awake. Transit centers must be pressure washed regularly and thrnsit providers try to do that at times when riders are not present, like two or three AM. And for someone living right next to that it is not what makes for a good nights sleep. The "first flood retail" rarely performs up to prognostications too and is frequently vacant. Then the City is expected to lease it for a police sub station in order to fill it as well as to try to deal with the criminal and transient activity. I know this from first hand experience. Transit riders don't hang around and shop at transit stops any more than people who drive to work hang around work and shop before heading home.

  • C Carl March 14, 2015

    Don't assume everyone shares your suburban "I don't like poor people and pressure washing" aesthetics. And don't assume everyone is privileged enough to be able to choose their surroundings. If a developer wants to build a building, then people want to live there.

    • J JDHasty March 15, 2015

      "If a developer wants to build a building, then people want to live there" Really???

• J Jesse March 11, 2015

  I'd love to see the Emerald Queen Casino work out a deal to build their hotel-casino at the Tacoma Dome and take over the managerial duties of it. A hotel-casino would really amp up that area for peripheral developments in entertainment and would supply a healthy number of visitors who happen to be right along the streetcar line and easy access to downtown, Hilltop, museums and shopping in downtown. Maybe they could even build the parking garage behind the dome that they've always wanted and do it in partnership with the casino.

• J Jim C March 11, 2015

  I found it very hard to believe that people would buy property to live in ON A SUPERFUND SITE but apparently there are enough people out there willing to trade the risk of long term genetic mutation for a great tax-abated view. The tradeoffs here are stupendous. Yeah, you live next to the Sounder and Link stations, but also next to the Amtrak and Greyhound stations... and the railyards.

  • T thackerspeed March 11, 2015

    From Superfund to Super Fun, the opportunities in Tacoma are staggering, like Dome District transients.

    • J Jim C March 12, 2015

      Looking at the map, I realize I'd forgotten that this site is right behind the Bulls Eye. PEWPEWPEW. Proximity to large amounts of ammunition might be seen an as asset by some.

• J JDHasty March 11, 2015

  Jim, They can't make it without subsidies. The people who champion them seldom live in TOD.

• T thackerspeed March 12, 2015

  The Public Philosophy. Can You Live It?... Experience a wild new idea for interdiffusion housing in Tacoma's oldest walkable neighborhood. Carefree urban chic a stone's throw from the railroad freight yard AND boxcar free convenience when you want it. Meet new and mysterious strangers as they arrive and depart from the best of all possible transportation hub's---greydog, free light rail, city buses, police cars and more. It's a life for the taking at Tacoma's newest experimental housing development, and you can have it all. See It. Touch It. Smell It. TRANSPO TERRACE... Enough to make a ramblin' man think about settlin' down. (photo I.D. and strip search required)

• P paolo March 12, 2015

  This project is a great idea. The only thing left to be done is to also find ways to revitalize the housing project proposed before the 2009 financial crash that a North Carolina firm had slated for development in the old mattress factory east of the Tacoma Dome Station parking complex. There must be options for people to live in a community and not be required to always use a car to get somewhere. The Tacoma Dome neighborhood has the potential to become as magnetic and attractive as the new residential areas rising around Seattle's pro sports stadiums. The only thing missing are nearby public recreation spots, like outdoor basketball courts--perhaps the city can find ways to plan for such community amenities in trade-offs with developers. Mayor Strickland's backing of this project in her role at Pierce Transit represents the foresight needed to make themost of transit connections in Tacoma to revitalize neighborhoods with sidewalk activity. Where praise for vision is deserved, Mayor Strickland earned it on this project.

  • T thackerspeed March 15, 2015

    "The only thing left to be done is to also find ways to revitalize the housing project proposed before the 2009 financial crash that a North Carolina firm had slated for development in the old mattress factory east of the Tacoma Dome Station parking complex."---paolo They Said It Couldn't Be Built...They Were Wrong. Coming Spring 2025: An industrial area gated community so progressive, it has security guard towers..."FLOPHOUSE 2009"

  • T thackerspeed March 16, 2015

    "Where praise for vision is deserved, Mayor Strickland earned it on this project."---paolo City Hall, like atheism, is a non-prophet organization.