Will a Tacoma mansion soon be torn down? We don’t know, but the uproar already has begun
How fevered is the tumult and concern over the rate at which Tacoma is changing?
How tightly wound are those fearfully watching the city’s ongoing transformation, particularly in the tony and largely white areas of town where people pay ridiculous money to avoid such disturbances?
Just how obscene has Tacoma’s housing market become?
Look no further than the big blue house at 1010 N. Yakima Ave., which has provided illuminating answers to all these questions this week.
The home — which is a mansion of sorts, though it largely blends in with all the regal estates that surround it — dates back more than 100 years. According to research conducted by the nonprofit preservation group Historic Tacoma, it was built in 1910 for Charles Frances Allen, a newspaper publisher turned pipe manufacturing mogul. Later, it was converted into a multiple-family residence. People took note of the property recently after word spread online that it had been purchased and would soon be demolished — presumably to make way for something new. While the mansion has seen better days, news of its potential demise inspired the kind of pained reactions you’d expect.
“Such a shame to lose a beautiful piece of history. I wish we could protect these properties,” wrote one Facebook user, responding to the news.
“Seriously? Someone paid $1 Million for a historic house in order to knock it down? So, that’s the cost of the land (including demolition). WOW!!! Some folks have too much money. I hope they don’t put up some modern monstrosity,” wrote another.
Let’s cut to the chase before we go any further: I can’t report with certainty whether the home — which technically sold for $935,000 and sits just outside the Stadium Seminary and North Slope Historic Districts — will soon be torn down. There’s reason to believe it might be but also a possibility that this could be a case of social media telephone gone wrong.
What can we say for certain?
There’s no doubt that the mansion is a piece of Tacoma’s history, and people care about it for sincere and genuine reasons. It will be sad to see it go — if it goes.
It’s also just one old house in a neighborhood full of them, and it seems fair to suggest that at least some of the angst that’s been expressed over the last week actually speaks to a much bigger fear of growth and change.
So, about that angst ...
In this case, it appears to have started with a well-meaning social media post made by Second Use Building Materials, a local architectural salvage company doing work at the property.
In a July 22 Instagram and Facebook post, Second Use wanted to highlight all the cool historic accouterments it saved from the property, according to outreach coordinator Amanda Harryman. The post also stated that the home would be “coming down” soon, causing an unintentional uproar. Historic Tacoma and the city’s Landmarks Commission then authored similar posts, based on Second Use’s post, heightening concern. Word spread quickly, and Historic Tacoma’s post soon garnered more than 250 comments and 140 shares.
There’s just one significant complication with all of this: According to Tacoma’s department of Planning and Development Services, no permits have been issued related to the possible demolition of the home, and none are currently pending. At this point, that means that if a definitive answer regarding the home’s fate is to be had, it will come from the newly formed limited liability company that purchased it in June, according to excise tax records.
The LLC is registered to John Peranzi, with an address associated with Vista Properties, a Stadium District property management company Peranzi owns.
Multiple attempts to reach Peranzi were unsuccessful.
On Friday, Harryman told The News Tribune that Second Use’s “contact on the job verbally mentioned the plan to demolish,” while acknowledging that her company is “not an authority on that matter.”
“We did not do any structural demo work,” Harryman said.
Likewise, Tacoma spokesperson Megan Snow confirmed that the Landmarks Commission’s Facebook post came “in response to the Second Use post that generated a great deal of interest and questions to our page.”
Snow added that the “phrasing” of the post was “unfortunate.”
“Our intent was not to confirm that demolition was occurring, only that we were aware of the community concern of the perception of demolition,” Snow said.
All of this leaves us essentially back where we started — with speculation and informed hearsay about the future. According to Snow, the home is not subject to the city’s demolition review requirement since it isn’t located in a recognized historic district, and under the city’s current zoning laws, the most that would be allowed to replace it on its current parcel are two single-family homes no taller than 25 feet. At the same time, future updates to Tacoma’s zoning and housing growth strategy — like the Home in Tacoma project — might soon change the equation, allowing a developer to create more density and, perhaps, profit.
That could be part of the owner’s strategy, but — again — we don’t know.
Here’s what we do know:
In the coming years — as Tacoma grapples with unavoidable growth and the challenge of making sure neighborhoods throughout the city are accessible to residents of all kinds — debates like the one currently flaring over the fate of the big blue house at 1010 N. Yakima will become more and more common. Regardless of what happens to the old mansion — and regardless of what the new owner actually has planned — this won’t be the last time we see hand wringing and furrowed brows as Tacoma lurches into the future.
This is what change will look like, and there will be kicking, screaming and some amount of shock — especially when it arrives in upper-crust neighborhoods that have long been immune.
You can post that on social media.
Then take it to the bank.
This story was originally published August 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
