Ford Building and Crescent Ballroom For Sale (28. September 2006, 19:50 by Derek Young) ~ Exit133 Corporate Headquarters?
 |
The Ford Building and Crescent Ballroom in the 1300 block of South Fawcett are two of my favorite unrestored buildings in downtown. Not too big. Not too small. Perfect for me and all my dreams… or most of them. Now, the two buildings are for sale. A mere $2.76 million gets you 32,400 square feet of buildings including 9000 square feet of ballroom. There’s a parking lot for my fleet. There’s so much potential here. Who’s in?
Update: More Photos here. Link to WM. Riley & Co. Thank you, Erik |
Commenting Is Closed
Comments are allowed for two weeks from the posted date. If you want to make a comment or reopen this discussion, please contact us with your request. Thank you for visiting.
Downtown is ready for a music venue of that size. Hopefully the new owner will partner with some one like House of Blues to bring quality bands consistantly.
1 | Posted by Marty | Sep 28, 11:08 PM
The Ford Building was formally one of the “neglected nine” (TNT 1/27/2006):
5. Crescent Ballroom/Ford Building, 1304 Fawcett Ave. On the plus side, the two joined buildings have a new roof and colorful paint to keep them from deteriorating – thanks to a Seattle pair who bought the historic buildings in 2001.
The previous owner sold the property when civil infractions from City Hall started compounding. But the complex stands vacant with chain-link fence around the Ford entrance.
If the city wishes to “infill” residents in the downtown, this would be a prime opportunity.
There’s so much potential here. Who’s in?
One could start their own small city within Tacoma city limits with these two buildings and the adjacent parking lot.
I do see that there has been some significant renovation on the buildings. Seeing them on the market is a good sign. Is there a Fortune 500 company that needs new headquarters?
I’d be happy to see one of the many venues on 6th Ave move to this building… maybe one that is celebrating an anniversary.
3 | Posted by MW | Sep 29, 06:37 AM
I saw a lot of great bands there in the 1980’s – Nirvana, Melvins, Soundgarden. I might even have some fliers somewhere in the archive.
4 | Posted by Scott Hunter | Sep 29, 08:22 AM
When I ever got around to emailing my submissions to you for the Fab-15, these two were going to be high on my list (even though I’m a MoPar-guy; not a Ford guy). Genuine old-time Tacoma residents will tell you how the Auditorium (became the Crescent Ballroom in 1931) was the place to be to dance, hear music, and play miusic. Seeing entertainment return to this venue would be more than fitting, and the spirits there would be happy. Tacoma still needs decent music venues and like Marty says, this would be a perfect size. I’m in. I’m going to start buying Lotto tickets.
5 | Posted by Dave L. | Sep 29, 08:33 AM
came via FeedTacoma…
I’m in. We just need to find someone with some spare change, and we could renovate this building. I get dibs on the Ballroom to transform it back into a ballroom.
6 | Posted by Dave P | Sep 29, 08:55 AM
In the 80s, people drove down from Seattle, up from Portland to see shows at the Crystal Ballroom. That was before the smelter came down, the gangs and prostitution were rampant and downtown was dead.
Restore it, making it a rival to the Moore Theatre in Seattle. Bringing more people downtown at night- that’s what Tacoma needs. We want a creative class- entertain them.
7 | Posted by J. Campbell | Sep 29, 12:45 PM
id say make it more like the Showbox. ive never been to the Moore, but i am assuming it is a theatre setting. i dont know if this would lend to an active and consistent nightlife like the Showbox does almost every night. those guys up at Hells Kitchen do an excellent job running a rock club, and keep it quite packed most nights there are shows. i have no doubt a Showbox sized music venue could last in downtown, as long as the management knows what they’re doing and there is plenty of advertisement. and book some good talent dammit!!!!
8 | Posted by craigA | Sep 29, 02:00 PM
Revonate it and tie it into our fair cities vaunted bandwidth so that as a venue, it can pump it out to the online world. “Live Streams from the Crescent Ballroom”.
9 | Posted by Droid16 | Sep 29, 04:08 PM
Ok…here’s the latest joke. Tacoma is like a tight pair of pants…no ballroom.
Well, I know…not very lady like.
I am RABID about saving our wonderful historic buildings. The delapitation of the Elks building sickened me every time I turned on to Stadium Way. This Ford Building is an awesome piece of Tacoma’s history. Other cities like San Francisco, Portland, etc., have shown how restoration and revival of their cities historic icons and areas can draw interest and people, not to mention, business’ to their cities.
10 | Posted by Martha Mendenhall | Sep 30, 09:59 AM
The prices for these buildings makes the Eagles building across the street look like a steal!
11 | Posted by jake | Sep 30, 10:57 AM
I drove by the Ford Building tonight. The blight factor is pretty high in this area of downtown with a vacant buildings abound.
Yet, the building does have some charm. The Ford Building could have some living areas, commercial and restaurants and the Crescent hopeful the destination for events. Let’s see who buys it.
Commenting is closed for this article.
