More apartments coming near Tacoma Mall and Lincoln Park area. Limited parking, though
Two apartment projects recently were approved for Tacoma’s 12-year multifamily property tax exemption incentive for developers.
The City Council approved the projects at its July 11 meeting.
The 12-year MFTE calls for 20 percent of units rent restricted for incomes at or below 70% of Pierce County AMI, adjusted for household size, as determined by HUD on an annual basis. Rent is capped at 30% of those income levels, adjusted annually. Latest rates were updated in May:
The latest projects are registered to entities affiliated with Alpha Sharp Development Partners and will replace current single-family residential lots with new apartments.
The development group also received MFTE approval from council in June for two other projects located downtown and in the Tacoma Mall area.
Here’s a look at the two new sites:
South Puget Sound Avenue
At 4011 S. Puget Sound Ave., a 20-unit apartment site is proposed, offering mostly one-bedroom units, and one studio, at market rate.
The studio is listed at 449 square feet for $1,475, and the one-bedroom units are listed at 440 square feet, with rents ranging from $1,600 for the market-rate version to $1,576 for the rent-restricted version, including utility allowance.
The project includes one parking stall. Developers can gain parking-requirement reductions from factors including unit size and/or proximity to transit.
Maria Lee, media representative for the city, told The News Tribune via email in response to questions that “4011 South Puget Sound is in the Tacoma Mall Subarea, in the Madison Inclusionary Zoning area. The parking requirement here is a half stall per unit, with all units that are under 450 square feet exempt from parking. That’s the case here, so their only parking requirement is one accessible stall.”
According to Pierce Transit media representative Rebecca Japhet, “Pierce Transit has bus service for residents of the 4000 block of South Puget Sound via Route 52, which runs on Warner one block away. This route connects to the Tacoma Mall Transit Center and can provide connections throughout the region.”
The 4000 block of South Puget Sound Avenue has seen a total of seven MFTEs approved since 2015, including the one approved July 11, that have proposed a total of 121 units and 44 stalls.
Those totals can sometimes change after the MFTE portion of development/permitting process, and at least two of the seven projects offered one stall per unit.
Given that, so far the neighborhood has seen 67 new units completed with 19 parking stalls. That includes another Alpha Sharp development, Puget Sound 11, next to the proposed 4011 S. Puget Sound Ave. site. Puget Sound 11, completed in 2019, created 11 units with one parking stall.
Thompson Avenue project
The second MFTE approved July 11 calls for 120 units spanning 3243, 3247 and 3251 South Thompson Avenue, with 47 parking stalls, also benefiting from the city’s parking reductions tied to unit size and transit access.
The project will feature one- and two-bedroom units at both market and rent-restricted rates. The market rate one bedroom-units will average 415 square feet with proposed rents at $1,600, and two-bedroom units will average 590 square feet with rents proposed at $1,800.
Rents on the rent-restricted units will range from $1,576 for one-bedroom units to $1,773 for two-bedroom units, with the same size as the market rate units and include utility allowance.
Pierce Transit’s Japhet told The News Tribune, “For the 3200 block of South Thompson, that area has received increased (transit) service since 2015 with the addition of Route 48.”
The neighborhood is also served by Route 45, with both routes running on Thompson Avenue.
Parking concerns expressed
While the bulk of the July 11 meeting focused on ballot measures heading to Tacoma voters in November over renters’ rights, at least one commenter called on council members to consider the parking impacts on neighborhoods regarding the two measures.
“It doesn’t seem as though people are taking into consideration the impacts of these two types of housing building projects on the neighborhoods where they’re putting them,” she said, noting that transit-oriented projects offer “next to no parking.”
Council member Catherine Ushka offered the lone “no” against South Thompson Avenue MFTE seeking council approval. She voted “yes” on the South Puget Sound Avenue project.
In response to questions from The News Tribune about her “no” vote, Ushka replied with an emailed statement:
“In the next 25 years, we expect Tacoma’s population to increase by 50 percent. As we plan for the future, we want Tacoma to evolve into a city that is transit-oriented and has multimodal transportation options.”
She noted that while the city’s code “allows for parking reductions to help achieve this vision, I am concerned that our current transportation options do not yet meet the present day needs of our community.”
Council member Olgy Diaz abstained from voting on both measures.
“It looks like it’s the same developers of the property next to me, so I just talk to them a lot,” Diaz said during the meeting after the votes were taken to explain her abstentions. “It seemed appropriate to recuse myself.”
