Star Lite swap meet site could be demolished, replaced by distribution center
Is this the end of the Star Lite, Lakewood’s legacy drive-in turned swap meet site?
The site, whose formal business name is Star Lite Market Place Square, is in the middle of a public comment period with the city over a project application that includes a proposal to demolish the structures at 8327 South Tacoma Way and replace them with the Starlight Distribution Center.
The new construction would involve building a 244,285-square-foot warehouse and distribution building “with associated site improvements for truck maneuvering, parking and landscaping.”
The process involves an environmental review and a public hearing that will follow the comment period, which ends Thursday (Nov. 8). The city project page lists the hearing as tentative and the date to be determined. The tentative construction date listed on the SEPA checklist is spring 2019.
Traffic and road improvements will be required. Those plans will be submitted to the city’s associate planner by Public Works by the end of the comment period.
The applicant seeking environmental review and a conditional-use permit for the property is listed as Jeff Davis of Davis Development Services.
His Davis Property Investment LLC is behind plans for a new grocery and industrial building development in Fife. Engineering and building permits have been submitted for that project, according to the city of Fife.
Davis also has been involved in the Center Plaza industrial buildings development in DuPont. DPI manages commercial real estate assets from Seattle to Portland.
Asked about the Star Lite project, Davis said in an emailed response that it is at the “preliminary phases of our feasibility of the project.”
If the old drive-in becomes a distribution center it will join a growing list of other recent industrial developments in Tacoma.
Recent projects include a newly announced center along Interstate 5 between Lakewood and Tacoma near the Woodmark apartments. Also, the Tacoma Logistics Center on the Tideflats was completed this year and a distribution center in Sumner is near completion.
As for the Star Lite, the drive-In made its debut in 1948 and in later years became the site of a swap meet. In 2001, the Internal Revenue Service seized the property. according to News Tribune archives. Hank Bardon purchased the site in 2004 and is the current owner.
No word yet on what would happen to the iconic screen and sign on site.
However, if this plan does become a reality, “We are kicking around the idea of a final private showing,” Davis wrote.
TO COMMENT
The public can submit written comments related to the Star Lite proposal to: City of Lakewood Community and Economic Development Department, 6000 Main St. SW, Lakewood, WA. 98499.
Deadline for submission is 5 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 8).
Applications for the project can be reviewed in person at the department’s office and online at https://bit.ly/2ql0pAK
This story was originally published November 2, 2018 at 8:00 AM.