New two-building project could bring affordable housing to Tacoma’s Lincoln District
Tacoma’s Lincoln District could soon be home to a new affordable housing development.
The Low Income Housing Institute is in the early stages of planning to redevelop the Tat Plaza site on South 38th Street to make way for two new apartment buildings. The site is near Lincoln High School and the former Lincoln Hardware.
The mixed-use project will be two phases. The first phase is a 75-unit building for seniors on the east side of the site. The existing building will be demolished. The second phase is a 72-unit building on the west side of the site.
Both buildings will have ground-floor commercial retail space along South 38th Street.
LIHI is partnering with Asia Pacific Cultural Center, a Tacoma nonprofit, to provide outreach with seniors who are Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Indigenous, or belonging to other underrepresented populations, said LIHI real estate project manager Steven Strickland in an email.
As part of the project, the center would also provide case management services to the building residents and host activities, events and programming for residents and community members, Strickland said.
LIHI already owns the parcels for the project and has applied for $8.3 million in local funding from the City of Tacoma and Pierce County for Phase 1. This fall, LIHI will also be applying for $4 million in funding from the State of Washington Housing Trust Fund and for $18 million in low income housing tax credit funding from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. Phase 2 funding will be applied for starting in 2022, likely for similar amounts, Strickland said.
Construction for Phase 1 would begin in 2022 if the funding is awarded this year. LIHI hopes to start construction in 2023 for Phase 2.
LIHI staff presented the project in previous months to at the Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness and the South End Neighborhood Council meetings.
LIHI executive director Sharon Lee said they are hoping to hold an in-person community meeting after public funding awards are announced over the coming months.
LIHI, based out of Seattle, develops, owns and operates housing for low-income, homeless and formerly homeless people in Washington state. In addition to numerous Seattle projects, LIHI also runs three tiny home villages in Tacoma.
