Sauro's Site To Become A Parking Lot?
We’re taking a heap of internet style abuse for not posting this story yet. So, here’s the rundown:
As you may recall, Governor Chris Gregoire offered up $700k to the City of Tacoma as part of the ill-fated Russell proposal. The money came from her strategic reserves fund and was intended to improve parking and streetscape. With Russell choosing to head north, the Governor reiterated last year that the money was still available for economic development purposes in Tacoma.
This all reappeared in yesterday’s Study Session and City Council meeting. The City last night accepted the $700k from the state in order to help turn the old Sauro’s site into a surface parking lot to support the growth of Davita. The ultimate goal is to sell the lot so it can be redeveloped. In the meantime, it’ll be a parking lot.
We understand you have an opinion on this?
Link to The News Tribune
Filed under: General
32 comments
J JollyGreen May 12, 2010
Kinda already talked about this… doesn’t sound like the best way to produce “economic development” in Tacoma. If it was the government would be paving over all the farmlands too.
E Erik B. May 12, 2010
Yet another surface level parking lot to add to downtown Tacoma:
7 current adjacent surface level parking lots in the “heart” of Tacoma.
Looks a lot like Sea-Tac.
N Nick May 12, 2010
I’m going to x-post my TNT comment just ‘cause I feel like it:
- What about the bagillion little gaping holes ALL OVER the city’s roads and nonexistent sidewalks and lack of pedestrian access?
- What about the funding needed to continue expanding the LINK?
- What about the stalled private development projects all over town that, if left unfunded, will become blighted/undermine property values/erode future property tax revenue?
- What about providing $700k in grants to local small businesses that hire 10 or more employees in 2010?
- What about investing $700k to aid Pierce Transit with its budget deficit so routes aren’t cut, jobs aren’t lost, and people’s lifelines to their jobs aren’t severed?
- What about using that $700k to shore up the Luzon so it doesn’t have to be torn do… oh wait…
- What about offering $700k in loans to solvent small businesses struggling with cashflow thanks to TARP not motivating banks to lend?
…. or we could just build a parking lot.
R Rob May 12, 2010
It would be great to spend $700k on any number of other projects, but the money from the state can only be used for a very specific purpose. The question is not what should be done with $700k, but whether to accept $700k that is tied to a single use…
R RR Anderson May 12, 2010
@Rob —LIES!
According to Ms. Rhodes: City Manager Eric Anderson negotiating the deal without consulting the council (thus backing them into a corner).
What’s going on with this guy?
T Tacoma1 May 12, 2010
I’m a little surprised that everyone is all worked up about this now. This is kinda old news being regurgitated by the TNT on a slow news day.
Filling in that hole, and fixing the sidewalks is gonna cost $700K. I hate having parking lots downtown more than most people but I’ll put up with the asphalt until the economy improves if we get sidewalks and lighting from the State. If we ever want to every sell that lot, it would help if it looked like a buildable site.
“The grant also will be used to repair sidewalks, install lighting and do other “beautification” to the 15,000-square-foot site”
R RR Anderson May 12, 2010
I propose we work to get the parking lot named “The Eric Anderson Memorial Parking Lot”
Remember the Luzon!
N Nick May 12, 2010
@Rob
I understand there are strings tied to this money, but surely something better than a surface-level parking lot could be purchased and still satisfy the requirements.
I also understand that $700k is not very much money at all, but it demonstrates the continued obsession/fixation the city (and specifically Eric Anderson) seems to have with parking.
N Nick May 12, 2010
This also emphasizes yet another case in which our city manager form of government may no longer be the most beneficial structure for our city.
R RR Anderson May 12, 2010
is gravel cheaper than asphalt? Should we be giving our free money away to the Big Oil industry?
N NSHDscott May 12, 2010
How about the city adding more money and building a garage that could later become the base for a much bigger building once the economy improves? Surely that meets the state requirements for the funds, it serves the same purpose as a parking lot of providing DaVita parking now, and it provides a great incentive for a private developer to put something up on that land sooner or later.
T Tim Smith May 13, 2010
How about this…we get the 700K in pennies..thats right copper pennies and fill the hole with the copper. That way when we get ready to develop the site for real we can extract the pennies and still have the 700K. It would be like the various mid-west attractions (ball of yarn, largest ax, largest golfball. In fact, why not make it a place where people throw their spare change like that fountain in Rome. Who knows we might end up with a budget surplus in time. Imagine…the worlds largest penny parking lot.
K Ken Moultrie May 13, 2010
Hey Tim, I had my own opinion, but you have won my vote! Let’s do it!
R RR Anderson May 13, 2010
I hate this so much .. . i see flames. flames up around my eyes…
T tressie May 13, 2010
I love the big Sauro hole……say that slooooowly…and you’ll get it. Yeah, ok since I have semi-marginal kidneys (tmi) I like Davita in town. A lovely company and their coffee shop is named “Inagadda”.
But….as a micro-business who has had their parking strangled and harassed, I’d have loved to see some of that coin tossed the way of micro/small business in Tacoma, in order to generate growing into a bigger business. I’m outta downtown, and I won’t return to run a retail place. All effort goes to the Big Boys and nothing for weird Tacoma semi-natives who really do want to stay and do biz here, but are chased outta a prime location. Man, I gave dt some major non-gooey indie cred….City Mangler Anderson deff has issues…he is obsessed with Parking Porn.
C crenshaw sepulveda May 13, 2010
Put a cover over this after it is paved and have it become a permanent, year round farmer’s market. How hard could this be? Great location and what a waste of a great location and opportunity. The amazing Olympia farmer’s market started in a parking lot. Little Olympia has a farmer’s market that is open 4 days a week during the season and during the off season, until Christmas it is open on weekends.
C Cleophus May 13, 2010
Who is going to use the parking lot if all the sidewalks around it are impassable? Will people park there if they can’t walk down the street away from their vehicle? I guess we’ll find out.
This sort of feels like just the latest in a long recent string of bad news for downtown – (Russell loss, Luzon tear down, Pacific Plaza non-retail cave in). I think there are many better economic development uses for the $700K, but I suppose that paving a vacant lot is pretty easy. It doesn’t require much effort or creativity and at least DaVita will be happy.
C Cleophus May 13, 2010
This passage from the TNT article, tells me that the parking lot is effectively permanent:
Under the contract, if the site is sold or redeveloped within 10 years – “which we want to happen,” Walkowiak said – the state can request the city to reimburse all or part of the grant. The city also would have to find parking elsewhere for DaVita. Still, Walkowiak noted that the contract specifically defines the lot as “interim use.”
Once they pave it, there are some significant disadvantages to unpaving it. It’s a small lot, a redevelopment there might be financially challenged anyway, but adding the burden of having to repay $700k and replace the parking pretty much ensures that no redevelopment of that site will pencil out anytime in the forseeable future.
R RR Anderson May 13, 2010
burning… flames… snakes… laughing devils… insane laughing devils… make them stop.. we are cursed… cursed to be the city of parking lots. Somebody call Pat Robertson!
T Tim Smith May 13, 2010
Thanks Ken :)
J Jesse May 13, 2010
This is a bad move.
H Halley May 13, 2010
Does a parking lot really cost $700k?
A Altered Chords May 13, 2010
I need a new division – Altered Chords parking lot construction.
Parking lot starter package only $699,995.00
I’ll just sit back and wait for the City to call me.
T Tacoma1 May 13, 2010
I hate parking lots with a passion. I also hate ugly holes in the ground.
I love sidewalks, proper lighting, and street trees. For the $700K we get permanent sidewalks, lighting and landscaping, and a temporary black top eyesore. This whole issue is bittersweet, good with the bad, imo.
R RR Anderson May 13, 2010
maybe it’s like that movie cool hand luke where the corrupt law man forces luke to dig the hole, fill the hole, dig the hole, fill the hole. Maybe Anderson is trying to break us.
A Andrew R Campbell May 13, 2010
“The city had some latitude,” Hughes said. “We never said you have to build a parking lot. That wasn’t our call.” A park, for example, would be an allowed use of the money, she said.
I’m not sure how the allure of a TEMPORARY parking lot is any more likely to keep DaVita downtown than any one of a number of other uses which would better serve the City as a whole, even on a temporary basis. It definitely seems like a promise was made here that was geared toward keeping a single business in Tacoma rather than making Tacoma a place that would make a business WANT to stay.
T Tacoma1 May 13, 2010
Cool hand luke –
“What we’ve got here is…….failure to communicate.”
“I can eat fifty eggs.”
R RR Anderson May 13, 2010
You suck Eric Anderson!
and poor boe. You guys took the fire out of him with that ethics bull crap.
Lets put the goddess of commerce smack dab in the middle of the temporary parking lot. She kinda looks like Eric Anderson if you squint your eyes and stick a screw driver up your nose.
J Jesse May 17, 2010
Why doesn’t the city build a gigantic parking garage over the railroad tracks by the Foss and have entrances and exits off of Foss and also Pacific and/or A street. Run elevators and other architectural connectors for pedestrians between the garages breaking them up a bit.
A good spot as it is unusable for buildings anyways and is right out of downtown.
I think the best spot would be below Firemans Park so the 9th street exit to 705 could have an exit/entrance right there with all the parking you can imagine underneath a bigger Firemans Park that jettisons out more toward the bay. Run a cablecar loop on 9th/A street/MLK/and 13th.
There’s your parking.
Z Z May 17, 2010
While surface parking isnt the best use of urban land, atleast it fills in that unsightly hole in the ground that has been there since atleast 2002. It’s too bad they dont do something with the old luzon corner, mabye terrace the hillside a little and install some greenspace in downtown tacoma. While i’m saddend by the loss of the Luzon, and think it was a premature, decision to demolish the structure. i can see why the city manager would have wanted it gone. it was looking pretty bad in its final days, and next to the new Pacific Paza parking garage and office complex wouldent help that property.
E Elliot May 17, 2010
The problem with Tacoma right now is that it’s too big physically for the amount of commerce, industry, and population that are here today. Result? Land downtown is so cheap that it gets used for extremely low value uses (holes and parking lots). The best thing the city could do is to effectively take land off the market (by creating low mainenance greenspace) that would shift the supply curve of land inwards, and thus the price upwards.
A Altered Chords May 17, 2010
Hey – I just noticed that construction had begun on a senior housing complex on G street between 17th and 18th.
Construction in Tacoma for something other than a parking lot.
Expected completion date 3/2011
Developer: Intercommunity Mercy Housing.
Right across the street from Mercy Housing.