2 new Tacoma apartment projects that received city tax breaks promise community benefits
Two apartment projects celebrated recent launches in Tacoma and have promoted their community give-backs amid their own tax breaks.
One is establishing a neighborhood endowment fund to help local businesses, while the other is promoting its voluntary use of minority and disadvantaged business participation in construction along with a percentage of lower-rent units.
Aspire11
Aspire11, 1023 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, is a 289-unit, mixed-use, multifamily residential and retail project. The building, at five stories, will include three levels of parking. Apartments will range from studio to three-bedroom. Six units will be live-work spaces. All will be market rate.
Amenities, according to the developer’s announcement, will include a fitness center, yoga studio, bike storage, dog run, resident storage and 24-hour staffing, as well as a living wall visible from Hilltop Light Rail extension, rooftop gardens with gas barbecues, fire pit and picnic area, community room with kitchen, and free Wi-Fi in all common areas.
“Understanding the historical significance of the Hilltop District, the developers and architect firm, Graves + Associates, are studying the exterior elevations and working with the City of Tacoma, local artists, and community partners to collaborate on the incorporation of public art and historical commemorations,” according to the release announcing details of the project.
The developers hope to work with the neighborhood to offer a collaborative space for community use.
The project also will bring new community funding under the Aspire11 Hilltop Community Endowment. At Wednesday’s groundbreaking, the developers, ADG MLK LLC, pledged $500,000 to kick it off.
The grants will support organizations that focus on the health, education and/or wellness outcomes for the Hilltop community, according to the developers.
The fund will be administered through the Greater Tacoma Community Fund, “which will help oversee application-based grants for programs that directly impact the Hilltop community,” according to the release sent ahead of Wednesday’s event.
ADG MLK LLC in March 2020 received an 8-year multifamily tax exemption for the project. It also has an established Qualified Opportunity Zone fund. The LLC was founded by Jagpal Basra and Tejvir Basra, with “Tejvir spearheading the Aspire11 project and Jagpal and his wife involved in the operations,” according to ADG MLK in a release.
In describing his family’s decision to buy the property, Tejvir told the crowd at Wednesday’s groundbreaking: “It seems like yesterday but surprisingly, it’s been several years since we were initially invited on a property tour in the city.
“We’re looking at potentially developable sites, and we’re going on a property tour throughout the city. I think we looked at six or seven potential sites that the city of Tacoma was assisting in marketing at that time.”
He recalled: “I’ll never forget that within minutes of us walking through the Hilltop and seeing this site, my dad kind of nudged me. I said, ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ He said, ‘This is the one.’”
Mayor Victoria Woodards, attending the Wednesday groundbreaking, told the audience the project brought back memories for her.
“I am a little girl who grew up in Tacoma. And in my junior high school days in my middle high school days, I caught the bus every day, right on the corner of 12th and MLK. And it is so awesome to be a child of Tacoma and to see this kind of investment in a community that I grew up in,” she said.
“It is so great to see this corner finally being reactivated to the kind of projects and needs that this community has,” she added.
In describing the endowment, Tejvir said: “The annual grants from this endowment will support organizations through the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation and should aim to increase the socioeconomic, health, and education outcomes of those living or working in the Hilltop Community who face economic hardships. As this fund grows in perpetuity, its roots in the community will be more profound.”
Expected completion of the project is 2024.
The Moraine
Ethos Development has started work on The Moraine, 1402 Tacoma Ave., former site of Go Philly Cheesesteaks & Wings.
The Moraine, at eight stories with 160 units, will include 59 parking stalls. The site will include a gym, a media room, a roof deck with communal kitchen, and a billiards room.
Ethos Development of Portland in 2019 originally received an eight-year multifamily property tax exemption to develop market-rate units at the site.
The project early in January was approved by City Council for an amended agreement to switch to a 12-year MFTE, including 32 units qualifying as rent restricted at 80 percent AMI in the program.
Expected rental rates at the time of its 12-year MFTE filing in January for the rent-restricted units ranged from $1,273 for studios at 324 square feet, to $1,816 for a 901-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath unit. Both rents include utilities.
Several projects, including The Moraine, filed paperwork ahead of the city’s new 12-year MFTE rules, becoming vested under the old program.
Tacoma’s new MFTE 12-year program sets rent-restricted rates at 70 percent AMI, with the new rent rates ranging from studios at $1,116 to three-bedroom units at $1,594, including utllities.
The apartments also are an Opportunity Zone project, which allows for additional tax advantages (deferred or reduced tax exposure for capital gains) for investing in the site.
According to information on Ethos’ site, in addition to the rent restricted units, the project “has a voluntary target of 25 percent minority and disadvantaged business participation during construction ... there is a target to recycle 70 percent of the construction waste stream, and the building will have on-site solar panels and a green roof.”
“The need for accessibly priced housing continues to grow in the greater Tacoma area,” Paul Del Vecchio, founding principal of Ethos Development, said in a statement announcing the start of construction. “The Moraine will provide design-forward and convenient living at a reasonable price point...”
This is Ethos’ second project in the city, the other being Ethos Fawcett, 1351 Fawcett Ave.
The Moraine is set for completion December 2023.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 2:12 PM.
