Tacoma’s new Elks Lodge No. 174 is taking form on a site at the Elks’ Allenmore Golf Course.
The new lodge, at 2125 S. Cedar St., will replace the 1960s-era lodge across the street. That lodge was razed last summer to make room for a new Walmart store.
The sale of the old lodge, whose site extended from Cedar to Union Avenue, gave the lodge the funds to build a new building more in scale with its smaller membership, now about 2,000.
When the old lodge was at its peak, some 10,000 people were members. The older building contained a 1,000-seat auditorium, a swimming pool, racketball courts, a large restaurant, bar and meeting rooms in its 100,000 square feet.
The new, $8 million timber and stone lodge will be about 39,000 square feet. It will include most of the same facilities, but on a smaller scale.
The new building is due to open sometime in late spring. The Walmart that replaces it on the old site is scheduled to open next fall, the company has said.
john.gillie@thenewstribune.com
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