A historic but dilapidated downtown Tacoma landmark is back on the market — the victim of the sickened economy.

The Luzon Building, one of two remaining West Coast buildings designed by famed Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Root, is being offered for sale for $400,000.

Tacoma developer the Gintz Group is the latest in a string of owners who’ve tried unsuccessfully to revive the 1890-vintage former bank building at South 13th Street and Pacific Avenue.

Gintz came close to putting together a combination of historic tax credits, a city low-interest loan and a favorable construction bid, but couldn’t secure bank financing for the remainder of the project.

Banks required that about two-thirds of the building be pre-leased, but the Gintz Group couldn’t attract another tenant other than its own headquarters, said Ron Gintz.

“The market out there is brutal,” said Gintz. “We still think the building is ideally located in the heart of downtown, but no one is renting new space.”

“It’s a kind of a chicken and egg deal,” he said. “We can’t get financing without tenants, but tenants don’t want to commit unless they know we have the financing to do the project.”

The developer had planned to tie the masonry building to a new re-inforced concrete utility core to be built on the building’s south side. That structural reinforcement would enable the rehabilitated building to meet modern earthquake codes.

Gintz said that declining construction activity in the last year has had a positive influence on the cost of building materials and construction. The bids to rebuild the structure were below what they would have been last year.

Gintz said a developer with deeper pockets could do well with building.

“It pencils out. There’s money to be made,” he said.

Gintz said the developer owes money to several businesses that helped them bring the project to its present stage of readiness, and it needs to sell the structure to pay those bills. The developer had planned to pay those bills with the proceeds of the construction loans.

“If anyone wants to step up and lease a few floors,” he said, “We’ll be happy to proceed ourselves.”

The building, whose site slopes from Commerce Street to Pacific Avenue, would be ideal for a bank,” Gintz said.

“They could have their retail banking on the Pacific Avenue ground floor and their commercial banking operation on the second floor ground floor on Commerce.”

The developer had planned to rename the building after its architects, but they’d be willing to rename it after a major tenant,” Gintz said.

Burnham and Root were pioneering designers of some of Chicago’s first high-rises. After Root’s death, Burnham designed such monumental structures as Washington, D.C.’s Union Station and several buildings at the Chicago World’s Fair.

The Luzon building has twice served as a bank and has been the site of a Chinese restaurant and several retail businesses. Tacoma old-timers might recall its days as the Fun Circus, an amusement arcade.

The building’s most notable feature nowadays is the tree growing out of an upper story window on the 13th Street side. The building has been vacant for at least a decade.

John Gillie: 253-597-8663

John.gillie@thenewstribune.com