Legacy South Tacoma funeral home being demolished to make way for apartment building
A funeral home long familiar to the South Tacoma landscape is coming down to make way for proposed new apartments.
Demolition work was in progress this week at the former Piper Funeral Home, 5436 S. Puget Sound Ave. The building, built in 1939, has been vacant since 2015.
The site included living quarters upstairs from the funeral home, and its white-brick exterior was described as “characteristics of art deco and mission revival architecture,” in a report for the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
George and Maude Piper, the original funeral home owners, lived upstairs. Among the details listed in a historic review submitted to the commission, the upstairs had a “‘sneak peek’ window high above the chapel where services were held in the funeral home that allowed Maude to follow the services from upstairs in her kitchen. She played the organ for the chapel and could be in their apartment until it was time for her to play during the service.”
The building was sold in October 2018 by Stonemor Washington Subsidiary of Pennsylvania to X2 South Puget Sound LLC, affiliated with local businessman John Xitco, for $320,000.
Two years later, a pre-application was filed with the city of Tacoma, calling for the demolition of the building and creation of a three-story, 48-unit building: 18 studios, 24 one-bedroom units and six two-bedroom units. The total square footage would be approximately 30,000 square feet, and the site would offer 24 secured parking stalls “and recreation/entertainment area on site for residents to use,” according to information listed on the city’s permits site.
In 2019, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring buildings older than 50 years and whose plans involve demolition of 4,000 gross square feet or more on a parcel be reviewed by the historic preservation officer. Also, any building that appears to meet Tacoma Register of Historic Places criteria is required to have a Historic Property Assessment report reviewed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
An additional rule calls for the commission to determine whether a site should be on the register if it’s found that it meets some or all qualifications.
According to the report presented to the commission: “The Director’s Rule advises the Landmarks Preservation Commission to weigh the balance of the public benefit of protecting the subject property against the potential impacts to the development project, and to consider alternatives and mitigations in making the determination as to whether a property ‘should’ be historically designated.”
Last September, the commission affirmed the staff recommendation that while it was eligible to be listed, it should not be based on covenants in the purchase agreement limiting its reuse and preventing it from becoming another funeral home, and the projected gains from redevelopment bringing new apartments.
“According to the applicant, rents will meet the 12-year Multifamily tax abatement requirement and the project will be applying for that affordable housing credit,” the report noted.
No application had been filed as of March 29, according to the city’s planning office.
Architectural salvage also was proposed “with the proceeds going to a local historic preservation nonprofit or organization,” the report said.
“We look forward to moving forward and adding more affordable housing to Tacoma,” building owner representative Alex Harmon said at the September meeting.
For former Piper worker Bill Habermann, it was the end of a familiar sight in the neighborhood.
Habermann worked decades at the funeral home, starting in 1992.
“We were always told it was haunted, but I was there at all hours of the night, and no ghosts ever tapped me on the shoulder,” he told The News Tribune this week.
He was not surprised about the redevelopment. As time rolled on and the property changed owners, he said, “It was sort of outdated and parking was limited and things like that.
“I was always hoping the building would kind of stand forever, but I knew it wouldn’t because it had so many problems, interior-wise and leaks and plumbing and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “So I guess it’s going to be a better use of the land than just a derelict building standing there being vandalized,” he said.
“So it’d be an improvement on the neighborhood, I’m guessing.”
The demolition is among others either recently completed or proposed in the area to make way for new apartments amid the current surge in development.
Narrows Plaza Bowl and the former AMC Narrows Plaza theater in the Tacoma-University Place area were recently demolished for a new multi-building apartment complex. A parking complex known as the Graffiti Garages in downtown Tacoma is to be replaced by multi-story mixed use residential/commercial building.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Legacy South Tacoma funeral home being demolished to make way for apartment building."
