Two local men plan to build a six-story retail and apartment complex in the heart of the hopping Sixth Avenue corridor.
Tyler Stanek and Kirk Rector, the principals of Tacoma’s Affinity Investments, started the city permitting process this week for the corner of Sixth Avenue and Alder Street, the site of the now-vacant ABC Chinese restaurant.
Stanek, Rector and other partners bought the one-third-acre corner lot last year for $1.1 million. Plans for the mixed-use structure, which include underground parking, have been in the works since then, Stanek said.
He and Rector will be the developers of the $10 million project. They plan to hire a general contractor in the next few months as well as secure financing. Stanek said construction should begin in late fall and be finished in early spring 2012.
“The nice thing is, nobody is building anything new in 2011,” Stanek said. “The fact of the matter is people still need a place to live. That, coupled with the fact that we just feel that Sixth and Alder is a place where people want to live. Downtown is nice, but Sixth Ave. has a lot of things within safe walking distance.”
The site is about six blocks southeast of the University of Puget Sound and just a few blocks west of the dense and lively restaurant-retail district around Pine Street. Several new apartment buildings have opened in Pierce County recently, but none near the Sixth Avenue corridor.
Stanek said the strongest financing possibility is a federal loan through the Housing and Urban Development department. The plans for 60 apartments, from 500-square-foot studios to 1,000-square-foot three-bedrooms, make it an attractive multi-family unit in an area that doesn’t really have much of that, Stanek said.
The building, which Stanek and his partners are calling The Marc on 6th, is currently designed for 1.5 stories of underground parking, 4,500 square feet of retail on the first floor, and five stories of apartments with rents starting at about $775, Stanek said.
The retail space is available for pre-leasing through Kyle Prosser at First Western Properties.
Stanek said he and Rector formed Affinity Investments a few years ago after working together as brokers at First Western. Affinity’s portfolio includes residential and commercial properties mostly in Tacoma.
Their latest project’s name was chosen after an informal poll of the owners, Stanek said – “we feel it’s the mark of Tacoma.”
Kathleen Cooper: 253-597-8546 kathleen.cooper@thenewstribune.com
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