Residential units and more planned for one of Tacoma’s oldest office towers with new owner
Another historic high-rise office building in Tacoma could be set for a makeover into residential space and more, according to plans filed with the city.
The former Key Tower, 1119 Pacific Ave. last was on the market in 2000, and was sold that year by KeyBank to local developers Herb Simon and Ted Johnson for nearly $5.9 million. That total included the price of the building and a parking structure at 110 S. 10th St., county archives showed.
The owners represented by 1119 Pacific Avenue LLC, on Nov. 30 sold the 16-story building to Spokane-based InterUrban Development, represented by 111X Pacific LLC, for $6.5 million.
Kidder Matthews had marketed the building for $8.5 million.
The agency promoted the building, built in the early 1910s, as holding “historical value that is impeccable while providing the opportunity to renovate and increase value.”
The real estate promotion noted: “Current office rents in 1119 Pacific are approximately 25 percent below market rents for comparable product. This provides an investor the opportunity to create substantial upside and value.”
A pre-application filed with the City of Tacoma in August calls for 60 residential units at the site in an estimated $4 million project. No parking stalls are included in the plan.
“For now, all we can say is that InterUrban is working on a plan to renovate the building to accommodate a mix of office, residential and retail. More details will be coming sometime in 2022,” Todd Dvorak, responding to questions for InterUrban, told The News Tribune via email on Wednesday.
InterUrban, on its website, says it “focuses on historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and ground up construction projects in urban settings.”
Other projects it’s taken on include the Pacific Commercial Building and the Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, the Portland campus of Under Armour, and McKinley School Union Park Market in Spokane, among others.
Building history and other projects
For a short time after construction, the building was the tallest in the state and served as the Puget Sound National Bank building.
The building in later decades became Key Bank Center and was home to its Southern Puget Sound district until moving to 1101 Pacific Ave. (Key Bank Plaza) after the 2000 sale.
Simon and Johnson, at the time of their purchase, envisioned filling the building with high-tech start-up companies. The plan dovetailed with Tacoma’s own campaign at that time as “America’s #1 Wired City,” in its early promotions of the Click municipal cable and telecommunications services.
The city eventually turned over operational control of Click to Rainier Connect in a public-private partnership in 2020.
Kidder Matthews, in its recent brochure, listed the office tower’s building occupancy at just over 40 percent.
The goal of converting former office buildings into multifamily residential has taken hold of other landmark Tacoma buildings, as seen with the current redevelopments of Old City Hall by local developer Eli Moreno/Surge Tacoma and the Washington Building by Seattle-based Unico Properties.
Unico representatives told The News Tribune last year it aimed for completion by early next summer of its apartment conversion, which involved interior demolition.
Old City Hall’s target opening date for the first phase is May 2023.
