Here is some info on a historic building that is to be rehabbed soon in Downtown Tacoma.
Image from Tacoma Urbanist on Flickr
From
Exit133.com:
The Resolution will provide the Gintz Group with help to restore the Luzon and turn it into commercial condominiums on all 6 floors. The total project cost is estimated at $6 million. The City will help the project by providing a $1.65 million loan, and help navigate the permits and tax credit options. There are two options for the terms of this loan which are still being debated, largely because of some possible federal tax credits, but the end result is a rehabilitated Luzon and a full return on investment for the city.
The simple financing proposal is for the City to provide a no interest loan to the Gintz Group, with full repayment in 15 months when the project is completed, as well as 50% of the profits made on the sale of the building at completion. The complicated version involves federal tax credits, which have provisions for the sale of the building attached. In that version the City’s loan is extended past the 15 months and there are some fancy accounting requirements to compensate for the tax credits and charge interest after the initial construction phase. Upon sale of the building the City would still receive 50% of the profits as originally planned.
The Contract includes provisions for open records of all expenditures and the addition of land for an elevator and stairway. Financially, it could be complicated, but the bottom line is that we could see the building restored completely by Fall of 2009. And we like that idea.
Image and info from the City of Tacoma
History:
"Chicago School" style; the first of four buildings by Burnham and Root Architects. The other 3 were/are
The Fidelity Building in Tacoma (demolished in 1949), the
San Francisco Chronicle (dramatically altered) and the landmark
Mills Building in San Francisco.
CHRONOLOGY
Address
1302 Pacific Avenue
Building Name
Owner
Pacific National Bank
Built Date
1890-91, completed 2/7/1891
Pacific National Bank Building
Architect/Designer
Burnham and Root Architects, Chicago
Uses
Pacific Avenue entrance: Bank; upper floors - Offices for lawyers, insurance companies, real estate agents. Commerce Street storefront: Tailor (1891-1901).
Owner
George W. Vanderbilt (1892)
Vanderbilt Building (1892), Luzon Building (1901), Argonne Building (1919)
Uses
Pacific Avenue entrance: 1898 -
Metropolitan Bank, 1902-04 - London & San Francisco Bank, 1904-1918 - Bank of California, 1920 - Scandinavian American Bank. Commerce Street storefront: Tailor (1891-1901), Markam Tea Company (1901-1907), barber shop (1908-1923).
Renovation
1905 fire, $15,000 damage, repairs by contractor J. E. Bonnell
Owner
1924-37 - William L. Davis & Sons Furniture Co.
State Building; around 1930 it rolled back to Luzon.
Renovation
Cornell Bros., contractor
Uses
Furniture store/warehouse and decorating company
Owner
1942-55 - Seymour's Army & Navy Store
Owner
1959-79 (approx.) - Circus Amusement Company
Uses
Pacific Avenue entrance: Fun Circus. Upper floors: Warehouse for National Bank of Washington files.
Owner
Luzon Joint Venture
Uses
1982 - Pacific Avenue entrance: Golden Chopsticks (closed 1986). Upper floors vacant.
Additional Information
The Luzon name was given to the building after the city in the Philippines for recognition of their help to America during the Spanish American War. In 1919the building was called Argonne Building, after the pivotal French battleground of World War I.
The Luzon Building has been placed on the following Historical Registers: Tacoma 1976, Washington State 1980, National 1980.
Another one almost down. Not many more to go.