Tacoma port considers leasing acreage to new fish processing, cold storage site
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- Port Commission reviews 50-year ground lease proposal for 30.47-acre cold storage site
- Developer projects 574,000 sq ft facility, 400 jobs, and 26M pounds storage capacity
- Lease requires odor abatement, environmental reviews; construction needs separate permits
New details have emerged regarding a proposed cold storage/processing facility on about 30 acres of Port of Tacoma property.
On Nov. 18, members of the Port of Tacoma Commission heard a presentation and first reading of a proposed lease agreement between New Jersey-based private equity investor Saxum Investment and the port.
Under the proposed terms, which are still under negotiation, the commission would authorize the port’s executive director to enter into a 50-year ground lease with Saxum or affiliated entity for the property — approximately 30.47 acres of land at 1221-1225 E. Alexander Ave. in Tacoma.
According to the presentation to the commission, “Saxum has identified the Port of Tacoma as a strategic location to build approximately 574,000 square feet of food processing and cold storage facilities.”
The News Tribune in April reported that the project would involve an expansion of Fathom Seafood’s current Tacoma operations as project tenant.
While Fathom wasn’t mentioned specifically in the presentation, at least one port commissioner noted the importance of localized fish processing, shipping and transport, a similar point Fathom’s CEO made in April to The News Tribune.
“A most significant number of U.S. caught fish, or any type of seafood, is actually processed in Asia, shipped all the way there and then shipped back to us,” said port Commissioner Kristin Ang. “This would reduce emissions and costs, as well as tariffs, and so this is a win-win for us and for the consumer.”
There also is a “a very comprehensive, robust and comprehensive odor abatement clause in the lease,” Einar Roden, senior manager of real estate and business development at the port, said in response to questions at the meeting. “And they’re going to have to use best practices for maintaining the highest quality environmental standards. And we’ve got their buy-in on that, so they’ve committed to running a clean operation.”
In response to questions from The News Tribune sent in late November to the port, Port of Tacoma Communications said in an emailed statement: “The lease is between the Port of Tacoma and Saxum Investment Company. Any decisions regarding subtenants are at the sole discretion of Saxum and per the requirements of the lease agreement.”
Saxum leasing principal Matthew Wassel told The News Tribune on Nov. 26 via email, “We are unable to comment on lease negotiations while they are in progress. Details will be shared once the lease is finalized.”
In April Wassel told The News Tribune that Saxum had been in discussions with Fathom officials “for several years about potential projects in the region,” he wrote.
Plans as described at the commission meeting call for a 113,000-square-foot processing facility, 10,000 square feet of office space, 210,000 square-foot cold-storage building, a 19,000 square-foot rail dock and a 222,000 square-foot cold storage building.
It offered the developer’s estimated project projections that included up to 400 new or expanded jobs (which includes transport), a potential for $43 million in new annual wages, 15,000 additional trucking loads per year, 17,000 additional container loads per year and 26 million pounds of food-storage capacity.
Commissioner Dick Marzano at the meeting sought to clarify the truck-traffic impacts.
“You’re talking about moving from EB 1 (East Blair One Terminal) to the facility and from there, probably going on rail. I just don’t want the public to feel like we’re going to all of a sudden get 15,000 more trucks going through our port area and through the highways,” Marzano said.
The lease would commence upon completion of environmental work, estimated October 2026, with a lease term of 50 years and three, 10-year extension options.
Initial rent was listed in the presentation as $234,619 a month plus leasehold excise tax, with rent escalation every five years by compounded annual CPI-U Index adjustments, not to exceed 3% per year.
Plans also call for the port to complete environmental remediation and invasive snail abatement at the site, according to a memo outlining the lease terms and scope provided at the November meeting.
Second reading/final action on the lease will occur at the board’s Dec. 16 meeting or later depending on the negotiations. Heather Burgess, port legal counsel, also noted at the November commission meeting that there will be further agency review beyond the lease authorization.
“If the commission were to approve the lease in December, it doesn’t authorize construction of the building,” she said. “The tenant still needs to go through the permitting and review process through the City of Tacoma, including all applicable environmental and regulatory review.”
She added that after lease authorization, a period of time is built in “in order to go through that permit process and feasibility.”
