Company files plans for new furniture store in Tacoma. Renovations could start next month

The former site of an office-supply store in Tacoma could become a furniture store.

Representatives for Mor Furniture for Less have submitted plans with the city of Tacoma for a new Mor store at 4044 Tacoma Mall Blvd., former home to OfficeMax, which closed several years ago.

According to the permit application, plans call for interior tenant improvements, including new lighting and partitions “receptacles, snack kitchen, and break room ...”.

The estimated start of the project is November, pending approval. The application is under review.

The Boulevard Center is home to Cost Plus World Market and Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts, among other stores. The site is between the two stores.

The 23,063-square-foot property has been marketed by First Western Properties. In a flyer, it touted the site’s proximity to the Tacoma Mall and Interstate 5, serving a daytime population of approximately 260,419.

The project’s estimated cost is $345,000.

In September, the area made headlines when retailers such as World Market were victims of a reported nine-store burglary spree that occurred overnight Sept. 19. Police have sought help identifying two suspects in a case believed to be tied to the earlier break-ins.

In addition to the proposed new store on Tacoma Mall Boulevard, the parent company of Mor Furniture owns property along Interstate 5 next to Giaudrone Middle School.

Wesco Management LLC is seeking a rezone for a parcel at 1824 S. 49th St., as part of its long-planned Mor store in that area.

The rezone would change the parcel’s low-scale residential designation to general commercial. In its application filed in March, the applicants said: “The completion of the land-use designation and rezone will result in the development of a single level building along with extensive landscape buffering that will beautify, improve and enhance the overall quality of the neighborhood.”

That proposal is now being vetted as part of the city’s 2023 Annual Amendment to the One Tacoma Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Regulatory Code process.

The rezone project will be reviewed by the Planning Commission at one of its meetings later this year, and likely again early next year, according to Lihuang Wung, senior planner with the city.

Those reviews will be followed by a Planning Commission public hearing on the 2023 code amendment package in March-April 2023, with subsequently a recommendation sent to the City Council in April-May of next year.

“The City Council is scheduled to conduct its reviews on the package and conduct a public hearing in May 2023, and consider adopting the package, as recommended by the Planning Commission or as may be modified, in June 2023.” he told The News Tribune via email.

Mor has 35 stores in seven states, including Lacey and Kent.

Mor did not respond to request for comment on Monday.