Onetime Italian grocery store to get a new touch of Italian

As the UWT section of the Prairie Line Trail nears completion this fall, work is also moving forward on Elemental Pizza, which will replace Grassi's in the wedge-shaped Pagni and Lenti building at the north corner of the UWT campus at 17th and Pacific.

The University chose the Pagni and Lenti name, like other buildings on campus, for its former occupants. In the early 1900s the building was home to an Italian grocery store that served as a hub for Tacoma's Italian-American community.

Elemental Pizza hopes to incorporate some of that history in its new restaurant, as they work toward a January opening.