Unofficial Tacoma Election Results
So far, as of 8:26 pm, this is what Pierce County is showing for the Tacoma City Council races:
Tacoma Council Position #3
Jack Pleasant – 12.53%
Donald N. Powell – 12.80%
Ronnie Allen Warren – 12.18%
Lauren Walker – 61.28%
Tacoma Council Position #7
Julie Anderson – 82.65%
Will Baker – 12.85%
Robert ‘‘The Traveller’‘ Hill – 4.00%
Tacoma Council Position #8
Marty Campbell – 17.86%
David Curry – 26.76%
Marilyn Strickland – 43.25%
Jonathan Phillips – 11.64%
Update: As of 9:49 pm, the percentages have changed slightly, but these are still generally correct. The next update will be posted on the Pierce County site tomorrow around 5:00 pm.
30 comments
K KevinFreitas March 6, 2008
Looks far better to me. Nice of them to work more brick in there. Still a shame they won’t even create a mock water tower to place somewhere on there. I think they’re missing out on creating a real landmark rather than just a hotel.
C Christine March 6, 2008
Could they save the hop/water tower to use as an accent when the hotel is done? I would love to see it become part of the building.
Another question: Does the original recipe for Heidelberg’s pre-prohibition beer exist?
J Jenyum March 6, 2008
They could put the water tower up (or a replica) and have a brewpub inside.
It does look as though it will fit in better with some of the older architecture downtown, but it’s nothing special. Looks like they’ve decided Tacoma may merit a more urban design.
E Erik Hanberg March 6, 2008
Yeah, it’s a real improvement. Has the design review finally process worked?!
D drizell March 6, 2008
From the rendering, it looks like this is the north elevation (looking from 21st St. toward the south). If you look closely, the left edge of the picture is lower than the right edge, indicating a hill.
The design is obviously an attempt to mimic the brick-heavy buildings at UWT and elsewhere in the area. However, this hotel is only going to be what, 125 rooms? There is no way that the entire Heidelberg site will be covered by a hotel. So what are the other uses planned for the site? Perhaps lots of surface parking?
This is a big improvement, but I won’t be fully convinced until I see what the other 3 sides of the building look like.
C CA March 6, 2008
Not a very good photo, cant really tell much, and I to am concerned about huge expansive parking lots taking up most of the lot. Think of those huge ugly parking lots beside Hotel Murano.
G grubedoo March 6, 2008
Not bad. I would like to see more.
I completely agree with Kevin @1. The water tower needs to be incorporated somehow.
E Eric March 6, 2008
I work across the street and it looks like it will be to scale with underground parking. This is looking much better!There is not much room for expansive parking and where there will be parking there is currently a gravel parking lot that is parking for an office blocks away. Great improvement!
N NSHDscott March 6, 2008
This will be a good addition to Tacoma. It isn’t Murano-awesome, but you can’t always expect awesome. I’m a bit of a cheapskate, and if I was visiting Tacoma for more than a day, I’d be looking for a place like this.
I noticed that this building is mostly symmetrical, but the top-left has a box (for utilities and elevator shaft, I’m guessing) that the top-right doesn’t have. Could they just plant the (empty) water tower there, on short legs?
C CA March 6, 2008
If this building does incorporate most of its parking underground, I will be very happy.
G gritcitygirl March 6, 2008
is anyone else slightly underwhelmed? i’m very pleased with the improvement from last time, but its still a generic, boring, freeway-scale hotel. you’d find this in any city. tacoma has an identity and character, lets show it!
M morgan March 6, 2008
I think this looks great! Much better than the previous rendering – and much better than the downtown Mariott Courtyard. I would like to see not only the beer tower, but also the lettered sign restored to the facade.
“Heidelberg Brewery Holiday Inn Express”
M Marguerite March 6, 2008
Gritcitygirl @ 11
I see your point about being underwhelmed, GCGirl. The only thing is, it’s a Holiday Inn. For a Holiday Inn, it has character. Sure, it means something generic downtown (unless they throw down with the water tower, which would be sweet) but I think Tacoma has more than enough character to thrive and be cool even with a few generic buildings and (god willing) a national chain store or two…
E Erik B. March 6, 2008
It now appears that new drawings are beginning to appear. This drawing is new to us at least… Are we going to see these at the LPC any time soon?
Underground parking. Looks like it is trying to fit into an urban form. Far better than the prior drawing. It is built adjacent to at least one or two streets with some glass on the first floor.
I can’t tell exactly how it is going to look but at least its doesn’t appear to be set back in a 5 acre parking lot anymore.
As for the building itself, it does look like it would fit in pretty well.
A altered chords March 6, 2008
Better – but when I looked at it I could barely identify it as the Heidelberg. I echo the sentiments above about including the water tower. It would be ideal if the Heidelberg name could be incorporated as well. The Heidelberg is one of the coolest buildings around here.
B BrettS March 6, 2008
Let’s not give our blessing too quickly and realize that what we’re seeing doesn’t tell us much. This elevation does show improvement, but it is difficult to judge the quality of a building from such a graphic. Site, massing, materials, expressed structure, and integration to the neighborhood are all qualities that we can’t understand from this drawing. These are issues that a design review commission would understand and offer safeguard the public interest. WE DO NOT have this kind of design review and I imagine that the building shown in this drawing as well as the earlier versions would have met the City’s design guidelines. The City should correct this problem. Thankfully this property falls within a historic conservation district and has the oversight of the Tacoma Landmarks Perservation Commission.
The Heidelberg building and social history have significance. I’m still an advocate that not just the water tower but also portions of the building be preserved and could be incorporated into a development. This site too has critical importance for the development in Tacoma and the potential for an emerging commercial and residential center just south of UWT. Our SODO. Let’s make sure we’re getting the best value out of this property and historical asset. Envision both building on this site and in the neighborhood completely.
P precast March 6, 2008
The building has no nads. What! This is 2008 and we should not accept a design that is a worn out copy of an historic design. They need to keep as much of the existing building as possible and conjoin it with a design of merit and dignity, unique to the site.
E Eric March 6, 2008
I dont know if there are many people that have spent time around the actual existing building but it is a run down non-maintained industrial building that probably should have had a red tag condemned sticker a long time ago. I love the idea of trying to put some of the brewery theme to the Hotel but the fires, mold, rot, and infestation of warf rats is not something that I would not want to perserve in this building. I love old buildings and the feel of the brewery district but I don’t honestly see how you could do anything with this building that would be of value. I think we are a decade late in saving this building
C CMU March 7, 2008
Eric may be right, but recreating an old looking building is not the way to the solution. Maybe the real question is if this is the best use of the property
N Nick March 7, 2008
Seeing this new rendering, I’m moving my reaction from ‘boo!’ to ‘meh’ . . .
T Tad March 7, 2008
the new sketch seems to be trying to mimic the look of UWT’s WCG building. however, i don’t think it is successful in that endeavor. to me it just looks like a big brick box with only a few architectural details that are of interest to me.
with that said, i think it’s great that we have focused a lot of development energy downtown on hotels, condos and world-class museums but i would like to start seeing downtown development that all citizens can use. i thought the brewery district was supposed to offer such amenities. in my opinion, another hotel downtown is simply another building that i, or nobody else in the city will ever use.
D drizell March 7, 2008
Regardless of what the new hotel ends up looking like, the visitors staying in that hotel will walk to the nearby restaurants and shops and spend their money there. Once they see the existing stock of businesses operating successfully, other business owners will choose to open their own businesses.
With each successive development, the “development that all citizens can use” will become more plentiful. No great city is built overnight. London , Paris, Rome, New York….those cities took hundreds of years to develop into what they are today. If you strolled around Portland 30 years ago (yes, Portland, the city we love to emulate!), you would see a landscape very similar to 2008 downtown Tacoma. People there decided they were going to slowly, incrementally make Portland a better city. 30 years later, their efforts have paid off.
So instead of bitching about the fact that Tacoma doesn’t have all the amenities that it needs RIGHT NOW, we should focus instead on the incremental improvements that are being made all the time and support those efforts. This hotel isn’t going to radically alter Tacoma as we know it, but it will definitely be an improvement, regardless of what it ends up looking like.
S Squid March 7, 2008
From recent articles on the convention center, it sounds like we actually DO need another hotel, badly. I was astounded at the difference in # of rooms Wenatchee vs. Tacoma and Yakima vs. Tacoma.
I want quality urban design as much as anyone, but it would be unfortunate if these developers were given such a hard time that they decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
C Crenshaw Sepulveda March 7, 2008
We have a lot to worry about if the Puyallups build their giant hotel and casino. A hotel that offers smoking rooms will just about kill the business in Tacoma. If you smoke in the Hotel Murano they add $250 to your bill. If the Tribe gets a link extension to their hotel and Casino the dynamics will change a lot in Tacoma as far as hotel rooms go.
T Tad March 8, 2008
i am not against another hotel in downtown, i am just confused as to why it is being built where it is. i was under the impression that the brewery district was going to be reserved for lofts, galleries, retail and other services that were more oriented towards citizen use. to me that sort of development in the brewery district makes much more sense than a hotel considering it is next door to the UWT campus. think of all the eclectic businesses that would thrive in that area simply by feeding off UWT.
as for the hotel, maybe putting it closer to the dome makes more sense?
J Jake March 8, 2008
I think it is one of the best location in town for a hotel. Right next to UWT, Museums, next to downtowns most popular retail street, right off a major highway, near large pieces of city owned land that will hopefully be redeveloped into something great.
Oh and it looks like they will be using brick cladding (otherwise known as faux brick).
S Squid March 8, 2008
Tad@25: I think that the convention center people are saying we need hotels within walking distance of the facility. Don’t think that the dome district would be optimal for them, even with the Link.
A nice looking hotel in the brewery district would help to anchor that area and bring in people with bucks to spend and time on their hands, a steady flow of patrons for the kind of business you mention – which would be a welcome addition. I think a hotel could complement such a neighborhood.
R Roark March 8, 2008
This hotel is needed downtown along with a handful more. Any hotel we can get is better than none at all but even with the brick application this building still leaves much to be desired.
The massing, fenestration and details are unimaginative and without personality. The through wall HVAC is embarrassing. This site deserves more.
I didn’t think it was possible to get a worse looking hotel than the Courtyard Marriot. I was mistaken. We still need it for a vibrant city.
S Squid March 10, 2008
While we are on the subject of bad new buildings, can we stir up some hate for the Rainier Pacific building, which makes the Courtyard look like Roman architecture by comparison.
E EDC March 11, 2008
Although a hotel is needed, Tacoma needs to stop pimpin itsself out like some cheap broad. If we’re going to settle for being adult entertainers than lets at least go after the Spitzers of the world. 5k a pop, that’s what I talkin about