Developer acquires ‘great little apartment site’ in Frederickson area
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- LLC tied to Great Expectations bought 4.5-acre Frederickson site for $2.8 million.
- Planned 102 garden-style apartments will serve households at 50%-60% area median income.
- Maritz estimates project cost at about $40 million with anticipated completion next year.
Developer Ben Maritz is ready to get moving on his firm’s next local project.
Maritz is founder and managing partner of Great Expectations of Seattle, the same developers behind Tacoma’s Cornus House Apartments and more recently the firm’s Rialto project, comprising three downtown buildings, including the Hosmer House, 309 S. Ninth St., considered the oldest residence in the city.
Maritz and Great Expectations are turning their attention to a 4.5-acre vacant site next to the intersection of 176th Street East and 78th Avenue East in the Frederickson area.
“It’s just a great little apartment site that’s going to be one of the very few affordable options in that part of the county,” Maritz told The News Tribune on Thursday in a brief phone interview.
The property sold April 10 for $2.75 million to an LLC affiliated with Great Expectations. The seller was an LLC affiliated with Terrene Homes of Bellevue, who acquired the site in 2023 for $1.57 million.
The property at 17753 78th Ave. E. is set to become home to 102 “garden style” apartment units for families earning 50% to 60% area median income. For a four-person household that translates to $60,400 at 50% and $74,594 at 60%.
The project has been referred to as Addison Grove by agents involved in the sale, and Alder Walk II by a previous developer as plans evolved. It might gain a different name before completion.
Maritz estimated the total cost of the project at around $40 million and said he hopes it will be completed and open in about a year.
He credited work with Pierce County on the development process.
“They’re always trying to get to yes,” he said, “It’s just a very different experience working in King County, across many things. They really helped us get this through.”
Dylan Simon, JD Fuller and Elijah Piper of the Simon Anderson Multifamily Team at Kidder Mathews represented the seller and procured the buyer.
In a release, Simon stated, “Puyallup and Frederickson have quietly become one of the most compelling development targets in the South Sound. The combination of an expanding employment base, constrained supply, and a proven renter demographic makes Addison Grove an exceptional canvas for a well-capitalized developer.”
In February, The News Tribune reported that Addison Grove is one of three projects set to bring hundreds of new affordable units in East Pierce County.
The county received $2.7 million for the three developments from the state’s Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP), of which the Frederickson project received $700,900.
Previous reporting by The News Tribune contributed to this report.
