Before it’s razed for development, Hilltop Rite Aid will be a canvas for Black artists
For Tiffanny Hammonds, Hilltop is home.
These streets, these storefronts and these people are her community.
The 24-year-old painter and muralist grew up on Hilltop, and her family has been here for three generations.
Hammonds said she has seen how things have changed over the years — for better and sometimes worse.
That’s why she wants the old, empty former Rite Aid at South 11th and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to be a success story.
The first visible step will be art — and plenty of it, Hammonds explained recently.
She likened it to planting a seed.
“I feel like we’re doing a new thing,” Hammonds said.
The Rite Aid building is scheduled to be demolished in 2022 to make way for roughly 300 units of affordable housing, but first it will become a canvas and incubator for local artists like herself.
By early next year, the work of seven Black artists — Hammonds, Adika Bell, Dionne Bonner, Breyahna Coston, Jeremy Gregory, Gwen Jones and Darrell McKinney — will begin the process of transformation.
Hammonds’ contribution will be a mural based on scripture and the theme of bringing people together, she said.
Hammonds hopes the project provides a vibrant “beacon of hope” for her neighbors, representing a sign of what’s to come — and proof that those who call Hilltop home will guide its destiny.
“We are gathering back residents and community members and second-generation and third-generation folks, to be a part of the community they were disconnected from,” Hammonds said.
Together, the seven artists will produce 10 commissioned pieces representing aspects of Hilltop culture. Five of the pieces will adorn current building, while five will become permanent installations at the development that’s to come.
While the artwork represents a first step in a process, there were times when even that seemed impossible.
Back in late 2018, Forterra — a nonprofit best known for its environmental conservation work — purchased the long vacant former Rite Aid.
Opened in 1999, the large drug store was supposed to provide an anchor to retail revitalization, but by 2005 it had been shuttered. The property was briefly occupied by a Save A Lot, but for much of the last decade, it’s been a deserted wasteland in the middle of what should be a business district core.
For Hammonds and others who live on Hilltop, Forterra’s purchase of the building — and its pledge to let the community drive the redevelopment process — marked a reason for optimism.
That sentiment was accompanied by hard-earned skepticism. Hilltop residents are no stranger to big promises from incoming developers, Hammonds said, only to watch as their concerns and desires ultimately fall by the wayside in the race for progress and profit.
Hammonds described herself as initially wary of Forterra’s motives.
Two years later, she said, her doubts have been eased.
After watching the steps Forterra has taken as it attempts to deliver on its commitment to her community, Hammonds said she’s now confident the project will live up to local expectations.
Specifically, she cites Forterra’s partnership with the Hilltop-based nonprofit Fab 5 to create a “Community Investment Council” to advise on property development.
Hammonds said she’s excited her artwork will be a part of the “lasting legacy” of the redevelopment.
Fab 5 director Chris Jordan said the commissioned murals and other artwork will mark the beginning of what he described as a cultural reclamation effort at the old Rite Aid. The seven artists were all selected by the Community Investment Council and will be paid with $68,000 Forterra raised for the effort.
Jordan said Fab 5 has long been interested in providing opportunities for Hilltop residents.
More recently, the nonprofit has focused much of its work on thwarting Hilltop displacement and gentrification.
While Jordan acknowledged early skepticism, he said working with Forterra has been a natural fit. He noted that Fab 5 has worked with other local agencies, including Tacoma Housing Authority, on similar efforts to help the community have a voice in shaping the neighborhood’s future.
“As an organization, we saw a ton of our neighbors being displaced, and, ever since, we’ve been really convicted to activate our networks in our community to really work together to shift the process of community development into something that puts residents, youth and families first,” Jordan said. “We realize that it’s not going to work unless we have folks from the community driving the process.”
According to Forterra senior project manager Jeff Dade, that’s precisely what the nonprofit has been working to do since it acquired the Rite Aid property.
Dade described Hilltop as a 150-year-old, historically Black neighborhood.
As Tacoma grows and changes, efforts must be taken to preserve the community for those who have long called it home, he said.
“It’s about listening first, and letting the words and the messages of the community dictate the direction,” Dade said. “It is more meticulous. It takes more to do it, but what you get is more robust, more rewarding and more authentic. We need to be authentic.”
So far, according Dionne Bonner — a 49-year-old artist who is working on a mural that will soon help bring the Rite Aid building to life — Forterra seems to be delivering.
The art might be the first step in a much larger affordable housing project, Bonner said, but it’s a meaningful one.
“I think it’s a message to the community ... that this building can actually change people’s lives,” Bonner said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
CORRECTION: Hilltop artist Tiffanny Hammonds’ name was spelled incorrectly in a previous version of this column.
