Two new apartment buildings to be built at the site of the former Asarco copper smelter near Point Defiance Park are examples of a new brand of cooperation among federal agencies, the number two man in the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development said Monday.

Former King County Executive Ron Sims, now deputy HUD secretary, said the buildings, scheduled for construction early next year, couldn’t have been built with federal help under rules the Obama administration inherited.

Sims was in Tacoma on Monday discussing several HUD-funded projects.

The buildings, being built by Point Ruston developer Mike Cohen with federally guaranteed loans, will be constructed on the formerly contaminated site of the Asarco mill. That mill refined high-arsenic copper ore.

Under prior HUD regulations, the federal agency couldn’t have provided financing guarantees for the two seven-story, 107-unit buildings because they were not on a pristine site.

“The (federal Environmental Protection Agency) was saying that the site had been cleaned up, but we couldn’t help with the new buildings because the site had once been polluted,” Sims said. A rule change allowed HUD to help with the construction loans.

HUD is expanding its formerly narrow focus on housing to encompass a larger mandate: developing better communities.

That community development, he said, isn’t restricted to lower income communities. It reaches out to include market-rate housing in developments such as Point Ruston.

The buildings, whose funding comes from Enterprise Community Investment Inc., will be built in phases with the first building coming on the market late next year. The apartments in the building will rent in the $800 to $1,600-a-month range.

Sims said the president has instructed all federal agencies to reach out to other agencies to develop cross-jurisdictional solutions to development problems. Good developments, he said, require good schools, good transportation, good housing and a good environment.

In addition to viewing the ongoing development at Point Ruston, Sims toured an Eastside Tacoma neighborhood, Salishan, redeveloped from a collection of World War II-vintage public housing units to a mixed-income neighborhood. HUD played a large role in Salishan’s demolition and redevelopment.

Sims also spoke with neighborhood and business district leaders on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Those leaders, including Tacoma City Council member Lauren Walker, are seeking HUD’s help funding redevelopment in the business district.

The leaders are talking with Safeway about building a new store in the neighborhood to replace the existing store, now more than 40 years old.

John Gillie: 253-597-8663

john.gillie@thenewstribune.com