Groundbreaking is set for this week for two seven-story apartment towers near the Tacoma Mall.
The towers, which will contain 177 one- and two-bedroom units, will be built on a vacant site east of South Pine Street west of the Tacoma Mall Office Building and north of Nordstrom department store.
Gig Harbor’s Rush Commercial will develop, construct and manage the two buildings, company President Matt Smith said Monday.
“We’ve owned the property for four years now,” he said. “We considered building offices on the site, but we didn’t see the demand for those. Now, the stars all seemed aligned for new apartment construction.”
The site has views of the Olympic mountains to the west and the Cascades to the east.
The new towers will be the first major apartment project built in the Tacoma area since the recession began. Other relatively new buildings on the market were conceived as condominiums but converted to apartments when the condo market turned soft.
Apartment vacancy rates are favorable, Smith said, and financing has become available for apartment construction.
Apartment Insights Washington of Seattle, which tracks rental trends for apartment buildings with 50 or more units, says that Pierce County’s apartment vacancy rate fell to 5.7 percent in the second quarter of the year from 6.55 percent in the first quarter.
The apartments are likely to rent for about $1.25 a square foot. That would make the rental on a two-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot unit about $1,250 a month.
The Tacoma Mall Apartment project will include underground parking, a recreational center with a pool, spa, library and game room.
Rush Commercial has built several other apartments in the South Sound, including Marlexis Townhomes about four blocks west of the Tacoma mall. The new project is the largest it has tackled, Smith said.
The first tower with 80 units should open in December next year. The second tower with 97 units is scheduled to open at the end of February 2013.
John Gillie: 253-597-8663
john.gillie@thenewstribune.com
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