No Stalling on South Garage Project

As anticipated, the City of Tacoma is moving ahead with plans to partner with a private developer to rehabilitate the 36-year-old Park Plaza South. The proposed $32.5 million renovation would create two new floors of Class 'A' office space and 104 additional city-owned parking spaces, and would revamp 30,000 square feet of retail space along Pacific Ave.

The City plans to fund the overall cost of approximately $9.5 million through $2 million reserved for deferred maintenance and nearly $8 million in 20-year bonds, according to a presentation during yesterday to the Tacoma City Council's Economic Development Committee. The City would assemble the parcels along Pacific Ave., and Pacific Plaza LLC--a partnership between PCS Structural Solutions and Absher Construction Company--would purchase and develop the building, then sell the parking stalls back to the City. In the end, the city would run 485 parking stalls and the partners would own office (both companies plan to move their own enterprises into the new space) and retail spaces. The City would assemble the properties through purchase and acquisition or--if necessary--eminent domain.

Park Plaza South needs as much as $7 million in deferred maintenance, including retrofit work to make the garage structurally sound, so the project seems a most reasonable alternative. Once the City gives them a green light, the partners believe that they can kick off redevelopment of the garage as early as this summer--although the City has yet to contact merchants and property owners to discuss the idea. The committee unanimously approved a "do-pass" recommendation to assemble the property, seek revenue bonds, and enter into a development agreement, but action still requires full City Council approval--expected next month.