Familiar office tower in Tacoma skyline is rebranding, plans ‘total transformation’
A downtown office high-rise that changed ownership at the end of 2021 has a new name and is starting an interior overhaul.
Tacoma Financial Center, 1145 Broadway was purchased December 2021 by Kirkland-based MJR Development.
On Tuesday, development representatives announced the building is rebranding as the Tacoma Centre, not to be confused with Tacoma Town Center, one of the city’s bigger multifamily mixed-use developments in the works just south of downtown.
According to the release, MJR “is planning a total transformation of the 15-story, 200,000-square-foot building.” It also has its own website: tacomacentre.com.
While the developer is busy boosting on-site amenities, no apartments are planned, MJR partner Mike McClure told The News Tribune in January.
At Tacoma Centre, “New additions will include a cafe and bar, lounge areas, conference rooms, and fitness center with locker rooms. With upgraded ‘lifestyle amenities,’ the tower offers a new brand of office space — optimized for a culture of work/life balance and creative collaboration,” according to Tuesday’s release.
When the renovations are finished, the site “will be one of the only buildings in the city with a high-end lounge to accommodate casual team meetings, happy hours, and corporate events and soirees.”
MJR president Mike Raskin said in a statement, “Post-pandemic, workers want more than just office space — they want a work environment that can be integrated with their lifestyle. Smart company leaders will establish offices in buildings where employees want to be.”
MJR Development owns 1.8 million square feet of office space in the Puget Sound region spanning Lynnwood to Olympia, with a focus on the I-5 corridor.
The multi-million dollar renovation of Tacoma Centre will focus on the building’s common areas, to be completed next summer.
The site will remain open to its tenants during construction.
Representatives from Kidder Mathews represented MJR in the purchase and now are managing leasing.
“Amenity-rich Class A properties are routinely outperforming others in the market,” said Drew Frame of Kidder Mathews. “Over the last three years we have seen a major ‘flight to quality.’ Employers are more focused now than ever on providing a high-quality work environment for their employees,”
“Tacoma showed a strong resilience during the pandemic and continues its upward trend with over 7,500 apartment units in the pipeline. Puget Sound companies looking to attract high-quality employees will want to have a presence in Tacoma,” added Will Frame, also of Kidder Mathews.
The site has 80,000 square feet of space available, and can accommodate tenants of various sizes, “including 24,000 contiguous square feet with small to midsized options in the 1,000 to 12,000 square foot range,” according to Tuesday’s release.
Other Tacoma high-rises under redevelopment with other developers, such as the former Key Tower, 1119 Pacific Ave., will offer a mix of office and residential units at the site. The former DaVita office building, 1423 Pacific Ave., is converting all of its former office space to luxury units.
