Old City Hall is perhaps the most photographed building in Tacoma.

Hopefully, the issues with the tenants can be worked out soon and the work can start. The building has been nearly empty for a year and a half.

It would be a pinnacle moment if and when the clock starts again.

Also, the hold-out tennants are on the Pacific Ave. side at ground level, are they not? I suppose one way to urge them out is to start work elsewhere in the building and make working there noisy and dusty.

Y’know what we need? Michael J. Fox, a mad scientist, a time machine and good electrical storm to get that clock up and running again!

Y’know what we need? Michael J. Fox, a mad scientist, a time machine and good electrical storm to get that clock up and running again!

The interesting thing is that in the Back to the Future movie, there was a group raising money to Save the Clocktower

Maybe that’s what we need to start here once the renovation works gets underway.

Old City Hall is going Class A office:

From old to new to old at Old City Hall

Historic Old City Hall in Tacoma will get a new life, finally. But not as the 48 luxury condominiums that were to be priced as high as $1.5 million, as announced two years ago.

No view decks, garden commons, residents’ theater, vaults with wine cellars or penthouse suites up to 2,200 square feet. No lobby concierge to handle residents’ personal arrangements.

No, the 1893 Italian Renaissance building’s new life will look a lot like its old one – office space – only upgraded from hodge-podge to historic Class A. – Dan Voelpel

I am thinking we might hear the same thing about the Wintrhop, No huge changes but just managed better.

Hmmm…

At least the building could be used for something instead of sitting almost vacant. I was always curious about who the “nationally famous” mystery tenant that apparently had reserved one of the clock tower suites was. There’s nothing else like Old City Hall in Tacoma. The mystery person probably got fed up with Tacoma and headed 35 miles north. Who could blame them?

I believe the famous tenant who was supposed to live there was Chihuly, and I also gotta agree that Prium is gonna drop the ball on the Winthrop. Prium is already downscaling plans for the mixed use building on the Foss waterway and they’ve dropped Jay Heights, along with projects in Spokane.

Yeah, it looks like they have the rough-in framing done, but that’s about it. I haven’t seen any activity there for months. The project got underway about 18 months ago. However, despite Prium’s inability to pay its subcontractors, they at least have the money to hire a security guard for Chelsea Heights.

Good article in the TNT today on the Old City Hall Building being renovated into an office building.

The market, commercial real estate brokers will tell you, has soared for what office users term Class A, the most premium space. Tacoma doesn’t have much left. So scarce has it become, for example, that Russell Investment Group leased two floors earlier this year in the Wells Fargo Building more than a year before their growth projections showed they would need it.

Well, here is 55,505 of new class A office space downtown. I hope they place a restaurant or other retail on the first floor though to liven things up in the area.

Good development to ever be able to get the Spanish Staircase functional again and add some needed life in the area, at least during working hours.

How did Old City Hall think it was going to sell high end condos without any on-site parking?

Condos are sold in Tacoma w/o parking such as many of the condo conversions. However, for the top end, I think it does make it more of a challenge.

The Tacoma trinity challenge : Winthop Hotel, Elks Temple and Old City Hall. Looks like Old City Hall is going to be the first to be restored.

Y’know what we need? Michael J. Fox, a mad scientist, a time machine and good electrical storm to get that clock up and running again!

Seriously, we do need the clock restored and working. This is the closest thing Tacoma has to Big Ben.

This would be a great philanthropic project for a group of people to take on. Perhaps a fundraiser, get a hold of someone who could work on clocks like this to figure out what would need to be done. Who knows, perhaps even a web site. www.savetacomaclocktower.com

Any takers? Does anyone know about clocks? (There’s the one in Proctor)

Regarding chelsea heights (Jake & Drizrell), I had an opportunity a week or so ago to walk the interior. All of the work is going on inside the courtyard and in the units (plumbing, electrical and HVAC rough in). Pretty cool deck at each floor in the courtyard and open area above with skylights. Not much activity on the outside until recently with windows but a lot of activity at the interior. Word inside was completion in 3-4 months.

Yeah I drove by Chelsea Heights yesterday and heard work going on. Anyone know how many sold units they have in Hanna Heights?

fuzzybear,
I know there are people working but something isn’t right there. Did someone forget to pay for the rest of the windows or are they on back order?

I heard recently from someone who spoke with a Hanna Heights insider and they said ZERO have sold.

fuzzybear @ 22:
“That is alot of added bodies to that part of town with no parking relief.”

Parking in that area of downtown is typically not a problem when I’ve been there. There is a large parking lot across Commerce and the link line is one block away. Parking across the street is typically less of a concern for office (not retail) than residential. This could be part of the reason for the switch.

Parking in that area of downtown is typically not a problem when I’ve been there.

With 70 percent of the spaces empty on the end of Broadway, you can say that again. That means even through parking is free we still can’t give it away. The area needs more humans.

I am excited for this. Many people, including Voelpel, argue that Tacoma is lacking in Class A commercial space. If this project is indeed Class A and fills up instantly, as there may be a market for Class A, perhaps we will see that Haub building or increased commercial development in the CBD.

I’d love to have one of the Hanna Heights units, but I’m about 9-12 months away from having enough set aside to do it. I wonder if that’s a common scenario for many young working professionals.