42 families had to move to make room for Puyallup apartments. Why is the lot still empty?
Apartments that were supposed to replace a Puyallup mobile home park have been delayed.
Construction was supposed to start in 2023 and finish in 2025.
Meridian Mobile Estates, which used to be at 202 27th Ave. SE, is currently a vacant lot with some overgrown grass and is surrounded by a chain link fence. The developer who purchased the property gave the 42 families who lived there until Jan. 31, 2023 to move.
Puyallup resident Kyle Crawford said crews put up the fence last year. Excavators have removed traces of the mobile home park. The site remains flat with a road going through it.
Crawford has lived in the area for 12 years. His backyard is right next to the site. He said he is “ambivalent” about the plans to build over 200 apartments there, and that he feels bad about the families who had to move.
Crawford contacted The News Tribune on June 6, asking if a reporter had any information on what was going on at the site. He was curious to know why construction had not started yet, given that the families were forced to move more than 18 months ago.
Timberlane Partners bought the property the mobile home park sits on for $6.5 million in 2021 with a plan to build apartments there. Some of the families who had lived there told The New Tribune they had poured thousands of dollars into renovating their homes. Many lost the equity they had in their homes, because their homes were too old to move, among other things. Those that couldn’t be moved or sold in time were left to be demolished.
Meredith Neal, Puyallup’s development and permitting services director, wrote in an email June 13 that the site is still in the permitting process. The city received building permit applications in February 2024.
The apartment complex will have 236 units across eight buildings and a clubhouse, Neal said. The multi-family housing development will be called the Bradley Heights Apartments.
Jorden Mellergaard, Timberlane Partners’ development manager, wrote in an email that they anticipate starting construction between April and June 2025.
Mellergaard has not yet responded to The News Tribune’s question about why the project has been delayed.
This story was originally published June 20, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
