$10M Tacoma apartment project would replace medical administrative offices
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- FAC lease ends spring 2026; offices transitioning as part of consolidation.
- Permits could be submitted this summer for an estimated $10M retrofit.
- Project would keep ~74 stalls and add up to 15 private enclosed garages.
New apartments could be coming to what is now a downtown Tacoma office/parking structure as the lease expires for a longtime business tenant.
Current administrative offices for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health appear to be making way for residential use.
In a pre-application proposal filed earlier this month, plans describe a tenant-improvement project that would take some of the existing space to create 50 apartments within the existing five-story building at 1149 Market St.
According to a project narrative submitted by BCRA architects of Tacoma, the site consists of four stories of public/private parking with office space on the fifth floor. While the existing parking stalls will remain on levels 1-3, the fourth level of parking would be modified. The structure would offer approximately 74 parking stalls “and up to 15 private enclosed garages for residential use,” the proposal stated.
“Private residential garages will be used for tenant storage, vehicles or other items,” it added.
It noted that the “level 3 Market Street lobby and atrium will be modified to serve the residential use. The office use on level 5 will be converted to residential use comprising up to 50 apartment units, with a mix of studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.”
Permits could be submitted as soon as this summer for the estimated $10 million project, with a tentative construction schedule starting this fall, though preliminary estimates routinely change.
Officials with the LLC owner representing The Berschauer Group did not respond to The News Tribune’s requests for comment.
The Puget Sound Business Journal reported on the plans in February.
VMFH PLANS
The offices date to before the 2021 merger of Seattle’s Virginia Mason and Tacoma’s CHI Franciscan. Franciscan Health sold the site in 2016 to an LLC representing Physicians Realty Trust for $9.8 million, which in turn sold it in 2019 to the Berschauer Group LLC for $11.5 million, according to county records.
Sharon Royne is chief administrative officer for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. In response to questions from The News Tribune, Royne said via email, “We are consolidating some of our administrative office space to support efficiency, collaboration and long-term sustainability.
“This includes the transition of offices currently located at our Franciscan Administrative Center on Market Street to other work locations, primarily the Franciscan Education & Support Center in Tacoma.”
The FESC offices are at 2420 S. State St., Tacoma.
Royne noted that “with our FAC lease ending in spring 2026, this is a timely opportunity to reduce avoidable facility costs and better utilize space we already own, while keeping these non-clinical teams in Tacoma.”
Royne also wrote that the “transition” is already underway and expected to be completed in the next several months.
“Patient care will not be impacted,” Royne added.
