200 luxury apartments with waterfront views planned for Tacoma. Here’s where

A local real estate developer who’s pivoted to focusing on apartment development has its sights set on Tacoma waterfront-view property for new luxury apartments.

Harbor Custom Development, in an announcement Wednesday, says it has signed a letter of intent to purchase .70 acres along Broadway for $5.75 million. The company says it plans to build “an urban multi-story apartment project of approximately 200 units.”

While the company did not provide exact location details, an accompanying photo published with the announcement shows the site appears to be in the 200 block of Broadway on undeveloped parcels next to Sky Terrace Condo, with views of the Port of Tacoma and waterfront.

“Upon successful completion of the company’s due diligence and closing of the property, it is anticipated construction will begin following the receipt of entitlements in 2024,” the company said Wednesday.

“We are excited to expand our multi-family portfolio into the downtown Tacoma market,” Sterling Griffin, president and CEO of Harbor Custom Development, said in the announcement. “The project will be our first pedestal-style apartment in an urban setting. In our opinion, it is a class A location that when completed, will garner top-of-the-market rents.”

A company representative told The News Tribune via email on Wednesday that more details would be made available once a fully executed contract is final.

Harbor Custom Development has developed the 80-unit Pacific Ridge apartments in Tacoma, 8445 Pacific Ave., a project that initially started as condos. It was one of six multifamily projects it offered for sale earlier this year for a combined $278 million.

County records this fall show the company still owning Pacific Ridge.

At the end of October, the company announced another letter of intent to purchase 15 acres in Stanwood at a cost of $4.59 million for the development of “garden-style” apartments.

The company relocated its headquarters from Gig Harbor to Tacoma this year, and the NASDAQ-listed company released its third-quarter earnings results Nov. 14. The report showed both lower sales and lower gross profits compared with the same period in 2021.

Griffin, commenting on the quarter’s results, said, “While our third-quarter results were impacted by lower sales and higher operating expenses, we continued to make progress on our strategic initiatives to support future growth.”

He added, “I am pleased with the development we made in our transition to focus on multi-family projects and believe this strategy will enable us to drive additional value for our shareholders.”

Wednesday’s news was the second announcement of luxury apartments being developed in the downtown area in as many months. The historic Sandberg-Schoenfeld office building, 1423 Pacific Ave., is set to also become the site of luxury apartments under plans from another developer.

Tacoma has seen the addition of hundreds of new apartment units completed just this year, with thousands of units in the pipeline development in the next few years.