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General : It Could Be Interesting
Haub May Build More Commercial Space
Erivan Haub, the German billionaire and occasional Gig Harbor resident responsible for the Columbia Bank building on South 13th and A street, is considering a new commerical project according to Voelpel’s column today. His idea? A sixteen story office building with ground floor retail and a full seven levels of parking. It makes my heart go pitter patter to hear words like these… Of course, the catch is that the land is already owned by Mr. Haube and the project won’t begin until tenants are signed for the space. It’s a bit of chicken and egg. What comes first? The interested tenant looking for a kick-ass space or the building that offers kick-ass space… Talk is talk.
Of course I am also a strong believer in Tacoma’s future and absolutely believe we need more top-of-the-line office space in town to help absorb that future. The condos are great, but without places to work we become a commuter city. I may have said this before in a Business Examiner article…
We’ll see.
Link to The News Tribune
Link | Posted on 18. August 2006, 07:55
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Hmmmm….that lot has always struck me as a prime spot for a downtown grocery store. Convenient to both north and south portions of the downtown corridor. Wonder if Herr Haub could sign on a Whole Foods, Red Apple, Metro Mart, or something along those lines as an anchor retail tenant. (Even a Safeway…)
1 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | Aug 18, 08:32 AM
Hmm, on review, I was actually thinking about the hole in the ground next to the Schoenfeld/DaVita building with regards to being a great grocery store location…but we’re within a block, so it would still work.
2 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | Aug 18, 08:41 AM
>Talk is talk.
Totally. Why would one of the area’s wealthiest property owners say “I’ll build it if enought people sign on the line”? Oh, I guess that’s why he’s one of the area’s wealthiest property owners.
Still, why not go all out and propose to build to the max? His proposal looks to be about 200 – doesn’t current zoning allow 400 feet in height?
Seriously, why are they playing with a communities hopes this way? Just build the damn thing!
3 | Posted by morgan | Aug 18, 09:53 AM
I second Morgan’s idea. We need to get serious about density if we want to get the kind of Tacoma that can self-sustain office and retail.
But Morgan, how would those office workers get to work without building another glorious cavernous parking garage abutting Pacific Avenue? It seems to me that the majority of the parking spaces for office are filled by people who cross the Narrows Bridge each day. Those workers either need to be entised to come over to this side of the water or the tenants of new office structures need to pull from the local labor pool so people don’t have to drive to commute.
4 | Posted by Chris from Theater District | Aug 18, 10:59 AM
Talk is talk.
Yes, but this guy has already built the Columbia Bank Building. Thus, I take his plan more seriously.
Location
The location of the building is pretty much perfect. The center section of Pacific Avenue could sure use some pumping up. Office use is about the most intense use per sq. ft that there is for bringing people to the area.
From the drawing, the building looks to come right up next to the sidewalk which is good versus the Wells Fargo set off plaza design.
First Floor Retail
Hopefully, this will be designed right so that first floor will have retail in nearly all of it and wrapped around the building around the corner.
The Wells Fargo building was built with a super lobby and one small retail (deli) space. Looks fancy and nice but attracts few people to it that do not have business to conduct there.
how would those office workers get to work without building another glorious cavernous parking garage abutting Pacific Avenue?
We don’t want them to do that.
The design was for full seven levels of parking. underground I believe.
5 | Posted by Erik | Aug 18, 11:43 AM
Whats the status of Haub aquiring the USPS parking lots? Haven’t heard anything in a while.
6 | Posted by jake | Aug 18, 11:51 AM
>Whats the status of Haub aquiring the USPS parking lots? Haven’t heard anything in a while.
If you think glaciers move slowly, then you haven’t experienced the USPS…
Regarding design:
I have to say, the street level portion of the design illustration leaves much to be desired- I hope this is a rough, rough, draft. I would hope that the pedestrian-level would be designed at a scale consistent with humans and not simply be a base of a large building planted into the ground…
>... how would those office workers get to work without building another glorious cavernous parking garage abutting Pacific Avenue?
Hmmmmm… I don’t know… maybe by streecar?
7 | Posted by morgan | Aug 18, 12:53 PM
The maximum allowed Floor Area Ratio there is 12. I’m not sure if the FAR includes parking or not. Anyway, this means that the 400 foot height limit is almost impossible to reach, because the FARs are set way too low. You would have to own the entire block, but only develop one quarter of the space to get 400 feet high. I have no idea how Jay Heights was permitted; it far exceeds the maximum far.
Anyone know about the parking inclusion in the FAR calculation.
I think a well placed sign written in German might convince Erivan to do another speculative building here.
8 | Posted by drizell | Aug 18, 11:35 PM
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