Exit133

June 4, 2009 · Derek · archive: txp/article

The Winthrop Story Continues ...

At last month’s Downtown Merchant Group meeting, someone mentioned that the there was a buyer for the Winthrop. A buyer? It’s for sale?

Michael Mirra, executive director of the Tacoma Housing Authority, came before the Downtown Merchant Group this morning to talk about the potential future of the Winthrop. What’s the story?

Prium recently approached THA about possibly selling the Winthrop. Mirra began by stating that the Tacoma Housing Authority has no formal relationship with the Winthrop. They don’t own it. They don’t manage it. They don’t know if they want to buy it. They don’t know if they can buy it. Yet, they do worry about the building and its future.

As many of us know, the Winthrop at South 9th and Broadway has had a contentious and tumultuous history over the last few years. There was a group of folks rallying behind Tim Quigg to turn it back into a hotel. It was bought and sold by A.F. Evans. Prium purchased it with plans to restore the hotel with some housing. The visions have included a north tower, a renovated hotel, new low income housing in other parts of the city, etc. etc. That said, Prium can’t assemble the financing for its original vision so the Tacoma Housing Authority has been asked to buy it.

There are many competing visions for what should be at this corner of downtown Tacoma. Questions about low income housing concentration, civic pride, pricing tenants out of the market, are only a few of many issues that have been raised. Mirra said that if there was no other buyer, THA could consider renovating the building into a mixed building of residential, commercial office, retail, and the public ballroom. However, financing is difficult at best. One thing is for sure, should THA purchase the historic building, they would not convert it into a hotel.

According to Mirra, “The only factor that has a timeline is the building itself.”

The problem now is that the building needs some serious work. Their estimates are at least $7 million in maintenance over the first two years just to keep the building safe and operational in its current use. No upgrades. Renovations and conversion to something else could be $60 to $80 million more – not exactly a project most folks are looking for right now.

So what’s next for the Winthrop? At this point nothing has been decided. We’ll have to wait and see.

Also see Peter Callaghan’s column in The News Tribune

Previously on Exit133 (Search)

Filed under: the-winthrop, Developments

20 comments

  • Jesse June 4, 2009

    No hotel?

    UWT’s first dorm hall.

  • dolly varden June 4, 2009

    @1: Great idea — having students walk or take the Link from 9th to campus would help get more foot traffic in the dead zone/parking garage zone in the middle of downtown.

  • J. Cote June 5, 2009

    “Leadership” in Tacoma has given us employee pay hikes in the middle of a recession, LID projects that are un-needed, unwanted and paid for with funds intended for much-needed street repair, direction of HUD funds to a private parking garage for a rich man’s collection and countless other things. Saving the Winthrop will NOT occur as a result of Leadership from Market Street, but from an individual with $$$ to spend who is looking for a return on his investment.
    I love the idea of making it a dorm for U-Dub T students.

  • crenshaw sepulveda June 5, 2009

    My first wife lived in the Winthrop as a market rate tenant when she was attending the downtown UPS school of Law. I hate to see low income housing leave the Winthrop, but if the housing is replaced and the building becomes student housing I think we really would be ahead of the game. Jesse, I take my hat off to you, brilliant idea that possibly could get some momentum behind it.

  • Snake June 5, 2009

    I’m all for low income housing, yet i’ve heard terrible stories about the Winthrop. I know people who are afraid to even walk around the building at night which is unfortunately understandable. The building is in the heart of downtown and could be the center for growth in that area. Our downtown really needs to look at what Portland did to make there downtown area thrive again. We have no nightlife downtown at all. No places to dress nice and enjoy the evening. Tacoma has a long was to go.

    Instead of dumping 140 million+ into Russell just think what you could do if you gave a million to a 140 small businesses in the downtown area.

    Winthrop needs to change. period. To what I do not know. Time to make downtown a place people want to go to, I do know that. UW would build a new building before dumping that kind of capital into a project such as Winthrop building. No way that’s happening. Why not keep with Tacoma’s trend of big business and have tax payers pay to renovate the joint and give it to Russell as a perk.

  • Nick June 5, 2009

    The thing is, I don’t see THA buying it. It’s way to expensive to maintain for its current use, it’s poorly designed for its current use, and changing it to any other use I think would be too cost-prohibitive for an organization like the THA. The same amount of money spent maintaining its current use could buy up enough property and materials elsewhere to build a safer, HUD-approved, low-income housing community.

    I think it will still be a hotel one day. The recession has most people putting investments on hold until the storm clears, and I’m sure Prium has decided that sitting on this property while it decomposes is too much of a liability.

    I say give it another 3 or 4 years to let the local economy get back to normal and we’ll see something come of this.

  • Jacinda June 5, 2009

    Tacoma has so many beautiful historic buildings. Living on St. Helen’s, I pass the Winthrop daily and there are always shady people hanging around. It’s a shame that a few blocks up we have great theaters and the LID project is well underway, making St. Helen’s/Market and Broadway much-improved (though I do agree with post #4 in one respect: money should be spent on improving infrastructure, not stop signs with flashing lights on them. I’m not sure who’s idea that was, but every time I see them I wonder how much money could have been saved by installing normal stop signs and instead putting funds toward more parking or other needed improvements.) Back to the topic at hand though, the link is right across from the Winthrop and it seems like improving that building and getting rid of the junkies that hang out around the link station, Winthrop and two bail bonds businesses in the neighborhood could really give the Theater District a facelift. I’ve come to love that neighborhood and will continue to hope a buyer willing to not only purchase the building, but restore it (hotel, dorm rooms, housing, whatever) to its former glory will come along. I’d hate to see it become another Elks Lodge, which is another awesome building with seemingly lots of potential.

  • Erik B. June 5, 2009

    The thing is, I don’t see THA buying it. It’s way to expensive to maintain for its current use, it’s poorly designed for its current use, and changing it to any other use I think would be too cost-prohibitive for an organization like the THA.

    True. It is bizzare that THA would consider using such limited taxpayer funds for a building ill suited for low income housing.

  • crenshaw sepulveda June 5, 2009

    I suspect that if a private developer decides to turn the Winthrop into a hotel they would end up with quite a few of the limited taxpayer dollars, the taxpayer pays one way or another. I admit that low income housing is not a huge money maker for the city but don’t think for a minute that this becomes a fancy hotel without tax payer funding. It seems to me it was done in Spokane without a single public dime, I guess a developer knows better than to look for public money in eastern Washington.

  • Michael June 6, 2009

    #1 nailed it. Housing for UWT.

  • Mofo from the Hood June 6, 2009

    PERCEPTION TRUMPS REALITY

    Let’s think this through.

    We want the Wintrop Hotel to operate as a hotel.

    But remodeling the interior alone could take twenty years and kill-off thousands of imported slaves.

    Hmm…

    Got it! Remodel the interior the way that was planned for the Luzon Building project–
    Just demolish the whole inside.

    The outside of the Wintrop can retain its original look. The inside is all new.

  • Sarah June 7, 2009

    Making the Winthrop into one huge dorm for UWT could only appeal to someone who has no memory of living in a large, loud dorm – the drug and alcohol abuse wouldn’t decrease from the current use, the residents would just be younger and more attractive.
    Putting it back to a hotel is the best idea. If we’re on the verge of losing Wintergrass because of a lack of downtown hotel space, well, we obviously have NEED of a hotel, a need which will only grow as downtown continues to revitalize. A big rehab project like this would qualify for federal investment tax credits if the owners got it listed on the National Register, yes?

  • Jesse June 7, 2009

    I was half joking about the dorm in comment #1. There would a better caliber of folks going in and out of that place if it were a dorm though and universities tend to keep a place kept up a bit better than a housing authority. It’d certainly be less scary at night and the nightlife around the area would get better…
    But the building really does need to be a hotel again if there’s a market for it. I mean, noone is going to make it a hotel again if it’s a loser financially. A dorm hall should be the worst case scenario IMO.

    @13: I lived in a very loud Stevenson North at WSU. Although there were drugs (mainly pot) and beer, the people were less intimidating than what’s in the Winthrop today by far. I’m sure the crime rate was better as well.

  • culver June 8, 2009

    The Winthrop gets a very bad rap. I lived there for two years while serving in AmeriCorps and it was not that bad. I’m sure that the people who live there are scary to all you procter people but most are decent folks. Rents are going up all over town. Apartment buildings are being turned into condos everywhere. And you folks want to take away one of the few places that poor folks can live. Priceless.

  • Squid June 8, 2009

    No need to cast aspersions on us “procter people.” We aren’t THAT big of scaredy cats.

  • Mofo from the Hood June 8, 2009

    Good one culver.

    Nobody has said that poor folks don’t deserve the grandeur of the Winthrop.

    Just the same, nobody has said that po’ folk housing should be constructed on the tideflats.

    But this needs to be said. How about some stick-built 4-plex low income housing to infill the Proctor Safeway parking lot and the lots directly across North 25th Street.

  • crenshaw sepulveda June 8, 2009

    The more of these Winthrop residents we can get into the Proctor District the better. They should be able to shop at a nice stores like the Safeway or Metropolitan and enjoy a nice coffee at the Starbucks or maybe that fancy new cupcake place that should be opening up soon. Brilliant idea, MFTH, can’t see how this could possibly be a bad thing.

  • Jesse June 9, 2009

    You cannot build a successful and vibrant downtown with the entitlement class as your market. End of story.

  • Squid June 9, 2009

    “Entitlement class”?

    Take cover!

  • Mofo from the Hood June 9, 2009

    Jesse @19, the next time you ride The Link, don’t forget to tip the driver.