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Development Bringing Reclaimed Waterway to Life

TACOMA, WA-The once contaminated Foss Waterway and the property along its banks are being revitalized thanks to the Foss Waterway Development Authority and private developers. The first completed project will be a glass art museum.

By Janet Parker | Updated on September 03, 2001

TACOMA, WA-Only a decade ago, Thea Foss Waterway was a derelict stretch of Tacoma–a toxic dead zone thick with wastes from years of heavy industry. But in 1994, with $2 million in Federal Superfund support, the state’s Dept. of Ecology began to remove contaminated soils. Two years later, the city took a major risk. Betting it could attract new development and businesses to resurrect the decayed area, it established the Foss Waterway Development Authority and purchased numerous parcels of land along the waterway for $7 million.

The property purchased by the city included 17 parcels stretching 1.6 miles along the waterfront. Another 12 parcels is held in trust by the Metropolitan Park District. Now five years into its plan, major developments are indeed are rising up and transforming the neighborhood.

The Waterway’s $63-million Museum of Glass is already mid-way through construction, its’ opening set for July of next year. The museum will boast the works of internationally renown artists, including such as Barnaby Evans, and an $11-million Chihuly Bridge of Glass, a 500-ft. pedestrian span between the waterway and Union Station. Don Meyer, executive director of the Foss Waterway Development Authority (a non-profit organization), believes that with the opening of the museum “we will see a massing of development” along the waterway. Another art-related project, the new Tacoma Art Museum, has broken ground.

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