$40M Condo Project In the Works

TACOMA, WA-A group of investors led by local commercial broker Bob Fredrickson is hoping to break ground here in January for a 12-story, 104-unit condominium project. The estimated $35- to $40-million project is slated for a 30,000-sf parcel that sits on a bluff in the 200 block of Stadium Way, providing unobstructed mountain and Puget Sound views.Fredrickson, a broker with Coldwell Banker Commercial Danforth, tells GlobeSt.com the project will include three floors of parking and nine stories of housing. The housing will comprise a mix of one- to four-bedroom units ranging in price from about $250,000 to $1.2 million for penthouse units with 360 degree views. Included in the unit count will be one-half dozen live-work units fronting Broadway. Additionally, there will be about 2,200-sf of retail facing Broadway and a 3,600-sf of retail fronting Stadium Way.Drawings for the project are about 50% done, says Fredrickson, and the City of Tacoma has given him a letter saying that if the project proceeds are planned, it won’t have problems obtains building permits. If dirt can start being moved by January, Fredrickson says he would expect to have a certificate of occupancy by spring 2006. In support of the project, the city this week approved a 10-year property tax abatement.Condominium development is relatively new to Tacoma, creating a pent-up demand that has resulted in most condo completed condo projects being 80% pre-sold, says Fredrickson. The city’s economic development agency believes the amount of demand is between 200 and 400 units annually through the end of the decade, which would leave room for an increase in condo development. According to the agency, 2,205 Downtown condominium units have either been completed since 2000, are still under construction or are in the design and permitting process and headed for completion by 2007. Of that total, the vast majority of units are new construction.