Here’s how Tacoma apartment development is going and a look at new projects still to come

The city of Tacoma is seeing a slight downturn in the number of new apartments proposed this year, while the value of the projects has risen.

Megan Snow, spokesperson for the city, told The News Tribune in response to questions via email, “Our pre-development records have similar numbers when comparing Q1 to Q3 2021 to 2022 – 95 pre-development requests (2021) to 92 pre-development requests (2022).”

According to Permit Services data, “The total number of units is about 30 percent lower this year compared to the same timeframe from last year,” Snow wrote. “However, the value of the projects including pre-development, coaching and pre-application (land use only) are higher by 30 percent.”

Here’s a look at some projects on the way, either newly announced or already in construction.

Modular apartments

Plans were filed this month to replace a longtime downtown Tacoma parking lot with new apartments spanning four parcels at 1123-1131 Tacoma Ave. S.

According to the pre-application filed Sept. 12, plans call for an 11-story, 234-unit market-rate apartment project with small commercial space, amenities and structured parking with 51 stalls.

The site now is a parking lot with 60 stalls and near the Tacoma Public Library and the Hailey, another apartment project completed in 2021.

Tacoma Avenue South currently has five projects between 15th and 21st streets in various stages of permitting/construction.

Construction is planned to start next June, according to the city filing, though permit and construction dates are subject to change.

The project, DMG Court, is estimated to cost $70 million, to be developed by Pinnacle LGS and DMG Capital Group.

The apartments are proposed as a modular project, using cold-formed-steel framing and fabricated as fully finished units, according to Imad Bahbah, principal of IHB Architects in Kent who’s also part of the project team.

The same team is developing DMG Plaza in Kent, which will also use use a modular format, Bahbah noted. That project, at 252 units, is in its design-review phase.

IHB is involved in other Tacoma projects:

▪ Trax, 415 E. 25th St., broke ground earlier this year, with DMG and GIS International developing it. That project, unlike DMG Court, is standard construction. When finished, the 5-story building will include 115 units and street-level retail and 53 parking stalls. Each resident will receive an annual regional ORCA transportation pass for bus, train or ferry transit regionwide, The News Tribune reported earlier this year. It is set for completion next year.

The same team behind Trax, DMG, GIS and IHB, recently marked the opening of their 157-unit Madison Plaza apartments in downtown Kent near Kent Station. Both are transit-oriented developments.

▪ Avenir Apartments, 3718-3722 Pacific Ave., property owners Skyline Investment Properties of Auburn. It’s described as 100 units “with structured parking and site work,” and should be submitted for building permit application “in about two months,” Bahbah told The News Tribune via email.

▪ Maple Square, 4014 Pacific Ave., also a project on land owned by Skyline Investment Properties of Auburn. It calls for 10 townhomes. Bahbah said it is in the design phase and is being created under the Residential Infill Pilot Program, which seeks to attract different housing types to formerly single-family lots.

Bahbah said his firm also is working on the 42-unit Algona Village, a mixed-use project in Algona that’s in the conditional use permit phase.