New apartments planned near Tacoma Mall gain tax break; here are proposed rent details
Story has been updated with tentative completion date.
An apartment project near the Tacoma Mall is progressing with its latest accomplishment — gaining an eight-year multifamily property tax exemption.
On Tuesday, Tacoma City Council approved the requested eight-year MFTE for Avanti Apartments, 4218 S. Steele St. The eight-year tax break does not require any affordable units. The value of the land is taxed throughout the exemption period, but exempts the project from property taxes on the assessed improvement value for eight years.
The city lists the building’s completed assessed value at $75 million, based on estimated construction costs.
The News Tribune first reported on the apartment project in April after initial plans were filed in March. The new apartments will replace the office/retail building that was home to Kantor Diamond and other entities.
An LLC representing Pahlisch Asset Management, based in Bend, Oregon, purchased the property in December for $6.5 million. Previous owner 42 Park Mall Holdings, representing Forbes Development Group of Tacoma, also had sought to develop apartments there before selling to Pahlisch.
The project is tentatively set to start in January, according to an Aug. 21 permit filing with the city. Initial renderings that The News Tribune obtained via a records request to the city earlier this year showed the building taking up the bulk of the site.
An estimated completion date was listed as May 2026, according to a separate filing with the city.
According to the MFTE paperwork filed with the city, estimated apartment sizes/rents are as follows:
▪ Studio (455 square feet) $1,515.
▪ One bed/bath (575 square feet) $1,650.
▪ One bed/bath (731 square feet) $1,795.
▪ Two bed/one bath (934 square feet) $2,600.
A total of 171 units are planned, with an additional eight live/work units at ground level and 129 parking spaces. Lease terms for the live/work units were not listed.
During the presentation to council Tuesday, Economic Development Services Project Manager Debbie Bingham was asked about the live-work units.
“I actually met with the developer and asked them why they were doing live/work on the bottom and not … just do retail?” Bingham said. “They said that their company really likes to have small businesses be able to have an affordable way to start … .”
Bingham said the units were described to her as the first floor “will be all the working area, the shop or where they’re doing work. And then upstairs in the loft area is where they will live, and even has like a separate bathroom downstairs so that customers could use that.”
A representative for the developer did not respond to The News Tribune’s request for additional project details. On its website listing projects, Pahlisch Commercial states that “By applying the same values that have carried Pahlisch Homes for over 38 years, Pahlisch Commercial creates one-of-a-kind multi-family living and modern retail spaces.”
Other multifamily projects from the developer include several in Oregon and a few in Washington state. In the South Sound, it lists Imber at Union Mills in Olympia.
The apartment project is not the only new planned arrival to that immediate area. Super Chix, which just opened its first Washington state site in the Frederickson area, plans to develop a new site at 4201 S. Steele St., Suite C, Tacoma.
This story was originally published August 25, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
