Home builder bringing expanding workforce to Tacoma to establish new headquarters
Gig Harbor’s Harbor Custom Development is moving across the bridge to Tacoma, as the real estate company continues to expand with projects not just in the area but Texas, California and Florida.
The company is relocating from its Burnham Drive office to 1201 Pacific Ave., formerly known as the Wells Fargo Plaza, in downtown.
The Tacoma office tower, a Unico property, will also see the relocation of Northwestern Mutual from its current office site, 820 A St. Tacoma, to a 15,000-square-foot office space, in plans recently confirmed with The News Tribune.
The new Harbor Custom Development offices, at 10,000 square feet, are better suited for the company’s growth, according to Sterling Griffin, company CEO and president, who recently spoke with The News Tribune in a phone interview.
“The space we have in Gig Harbor was just not adequate. We’re growing very rapidly. It just made sense to look for a location that allows us to be more competitive near the top talent that we’re looking for, as we continue to grow,” Griffin said. “The 1201 Pacific tower is great access, great location. People that are trying to commute from a hybrid schedule, it’s much easier than coming to Gig Harbor crossing the Narrows Bridge.”
The company started in Gig Harbor in 2014. It now has about 70 employees and expects to add about 25 more in the next year to 18 months, Griffin said.
Revenue for the publicly traded company is projected to be $160 million in 2022, up from between $70 million and $80 million in 2021.
Griffin said the new space allows the company to accommodate hybrid work schedules, with lockers to store laptops and office space set up for virtual online video meetings with clients.
Griffin sees the new headquarters as the central hub for its operations in other states.
“Our focus is to go into some of the fastest growing areas of the country,” he said. “They’re very similar to Western Washington Puget Sound region’s market.”
One of those ventures is in Florida.
“We’re working on a waterfront condominium site, currently just going through all the planning stages,” he said. “But in these types of situations, both in Austin or Florida or Sacramento, we would partner with local builders and developers, which allows us to not have significant employment outside of Washington state. The goal is to really focus the efforts here and administer the company’s growth from Tacoma.”
Closer to home, it is currently developing the 80-unit Pacific Ridge condos in Tacoma, 8445 Pacific Ave., one of dozens of multifamily projects currently in construction in the city by a range of developers.
Griffin says that project, set for completion later this year, may evolve into apartments.
“We’re building the product, and when we’re completed, we’ll determine what we do but right now, I would say that the Pacific Ridge has moved into the apartment category,” he said.
Market forces over the past 12 months, he explained, have made apartments more valuable than condos.
“An apartment there today makes more sense for our company than selling condos,” he said.
He said the company is looking at sites “right now” in Tacoma-Pierce County area for future development.
Other notable nearby projects include its 177 unit Tanglewilde apartment complex in Lacey. The company announced Feb. 22 that it had entered into a preliminary commitment for $29.75 million in construction financing with Washington Federal Bank for the project.
Tanglewilde is also another project that was originally slated for condos, catering to first-time home buyers.
Griffin said in a release announcing the deal: “Our goal is to complete construction of the Tanglewilde apartment complex in 2023 and sell the project upon completion.”
The company also made headlines earlier this year when it was announced it would accept cryptocurrency for real estate payments for its product line: single-family homes, condos, land, apartment projects, with a third-party business handles the conversion.
“As a company we don’t take any risk associated with the volatility of the cryptocurrency. Whatever the price is, that’s the amount we get into US dollars,” he said.
No crypto-deals have happened yet, Griffin said. “Right about the time we announced it, the cryptocurrency market took a pretty major hit. And now it’s starting to come back.”
He sees it as a valuable part of financial future.
“There’s no reason why we should not find a way as a country to accept cryptocurrency for any number of products, and we’re just saying, ‘Here we are, happy to do business.’ ”
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
