New five-story development would bring 100 new apartments to downtown Puyallup
A new development with 100 apartments may soon be coming to downtown Puyallup.
The Puyallup City Council heard a presentation during its Nov. 18 meeting from the developer, Urban Olympia – which has designed and built similar mixed-use projects with about 600 to 700 units in downtown Olympia. If approved, the development will be located on three privately-owned parcels of land totaling 0.75 acres at 204 Fourth St. SW between West Meeker and West Pioneer.
Walker John, the owner of Urban Olympia, told the council at the meeting that the project would be a five-story multi-family residential building with 100 units. The units would be studios, one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom apartments. There would be about 70 on-site parking stalls, as well as a courtyard and a dog run.
City Council documents say the apartments will be “market rate.” Zillow lists the rent in Puyallup (across all rental properties) to be $2,597. Rent Cafe lists the average apartment rent (across all sizes) at $2,049.
This is the second project that Urban Olympia is doing with the city. In March, the council approved a plan for Urban Olympia to build 138 apartments on the city’s Administrative Office Building (AOB) Lot at 330 Third St. SW behind the Puyallup Public Library, where the city’s administrative office building used to be.
The new development on Fourth Street Southwest will be just one block away from the AOB Lot development.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” John said at the meeting. “The idea is to sort of build these together and we will operate these as a community.”
This Fourth Street Southwest development will be on privately-owned land, unlike the AOB Lot project, where Urban Olympia is slated to enter an agreement with the city.
“We have not purchased the AOB site, but have entered into a purchase and sale agreement with the City of Puyallup,” John said in an email to The News Tribune.
Unlike the AOB Lot, there will be no retail space on the bottom of this development. He said Urban Olympia is planning to add a gym to one of the AOB Lot’s retail spaces, which residents at both complexes will be able to use.
“We’ll probably have murals that kind of step down the building to kind of give the pedestrians something to look at,” John said at the meeting.
What other improvements are happening in that area?
Steve Kirkelie, Puyallup’s city manager, told the council that Urban Olympia will work to include:
- A 570-foot water-line extension, with upgrades along Pioneer Avenue. This will cost about $417,000, which Urban Olympia will pay.
- A traffic impact analysis
- “Architectural and design consistency” between this building and the AOB Lot development, because they stem from the same developer.
Parking became a major topic at the meeting. Kirkelie said if the project goes into effect before July 2027, they can impose a parking requirement of 0.7 stalls per unit. If it goes into effect after that time frame, state law means they can only impose a parking requirement of 0.5 stalls per unit.
Council member Lauren Adler said at the meeting that she remains worried about what that many new apartments in downtown Puyallup will mean for downtown parking.
“I do stand by and still believe that this is what is right for Puyallup and it is time,” Adler said. “But 240 units coming online close to the same time, it’s going to be a lot of change in a short amount of time and we’re going to lose a lot of parking downtown.”
Council member Ned Witting said he likes the development’s proximity to the Sounder Station.
“This property is one block from the Sounder parking lot, so it’s very close in terms of transit and transit-oriented development. It’s there, you couldn’t get any much closer,” Witting said. “I’m really excited about this project. I like the synergy between the AOB Lot and [this] property.”
What’s next?
John said that both this project and the AOB Lot project are in the design phase. Urban Olympia plans to build them both at the same time, with the AOB Lot development opening three or four months prior to the one on Fourth Street Southwest.
In an email to The News Tribune, John said they are aiming to start construction on the Fourth Street project in the summer of 2026.
The City Council approved a development agreement and purchase/sale agreement for the AOB Lot during its April 29 meeting.
Council needs to approve the Fourth Street Southwest development before Urban Olympia can make any further movement on it. In order to do that, the development needs to go through a public hearing and then a final vote.
Kirkelie said the public hearing is scheduled for the Dec. 9 council meeting.
