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Dan Putnam's Visionary Downtown Retail in 2012
This is what Developer Welfare looks like...
posted Dec 15, 2009
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We all had high hopes for the Pacific Plaza. We all watched in wonderment as the brutalist, Sourth Plaza Parking Garage 'super fortress' transformed into the modern LEED certified parking garage PLUS! Then the economy fell apart and now things need to change. Never-mind the Luzon.
favorite comments from exit133:
"Even if it is for the best for City Council to approve this agreement, Putnam's comments on this are disingenuous and only serve to remind me of his role in the Luzon destruction." - Jamie Thrice All American.
"What if the AG's new office really does refelct the soul of Tacoma? Would we accept this reflection of ourselves? What if we took all of our deepest longings and cast them into a Tacoma Zeitgeist Cauldron, and the most exciting thing that emerged was Tollefson Plaza? WHAT IF?" - CaptiveYak.
favorite comments from exit133:
"Even if it is for the best for City Council to approve this agreement, Putnam's comments on this are disingenuous and only serve to remind me of his role in the Luzon destruction." - Jamie Thrice All American.
"What if the AG's new office really does refelct the soul of Tacoma? Would we accept this reflection of ourselves? What if we took all of our deepest longings and cast them into a Tacoma Zeitgeist Cauldron, and the most exciting thing that emerged was Tollefson Plaza? WHAT IF?" - CaptiveYak.
Comments [28]
 by The Jinxmedic on 12/15/2009 @ 7:59am | Not too dissimilar from one of the Luzon pieces that I am delivering to the gallery tomorrow.... ..heh... |
 by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 8:06am | I was inspired by this one...
comics.feedtacoma.com/ocryx/ocryx-le-may... |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 8:12am | one of the more attractive parking garages i'd say...
i.feedtacoma.com/TDI-Reporters-Notebook/... |
by The Jinxmedic on 12/15/2009 @ 8:14am | I agree.
But now you have spotted the subject matter of TWO of my three Luzon pieces... ...scary. |
 by fredo on 12/15/2009 @ 12:22pm | You forgot to include a "Lamps-R-Us" for Nick. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 12:59pm | ha! Fredo, I think the point was to attract renters that shoppers would have absolutely no interest in. The Lamp store would at least connect to one person. |
 by Nick on 12/15/2009 @ 1:07pm | haha, would it help if I pretend I don't want any lamps? maybe I could sneak by their back door to pick up a few once they open up shop ;-) |
 by jenyum on 12/15/2009 @ 1:19pm | I wish there were anything about this cartoon that seemed like it was a stretch. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 1:26pm | shoulda added a DMV... |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 1:26pm | oh! UPS Store! |
by The Jinxmedic on 12/15/2009 @ 1:28pm | ...And an official Public Servant Starbucks... |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 2:08pm | Mr. JinxMedic,
Care to comment on this article? www.exit133.com/5650/callaghan-on-the-le... Is Madeira a one trick pony? |
 by tommyllew on 12/15/2009 @ 2:31pm | This may be my all-time RR cartoon. Dang. A Lover's Package store would be a step-up. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 2:35pm | that's what she said.
Gotcha tom! |
by tommyllew on 12/15/2009 @ 3:46pm | Gotcha tom? That's what she said! |
by The Jinxmedic on 12/15/2009 @ 3:58pm | Re: the exit 133 article- No one listens, few on this forum seems to care, and no one seems to understand that the Le May group is having a Luzon pulled on it, time after time again. The LeMay fondation is getting fed up, and can not afford any more delays. They have no more "let's redesign it again because the city wants more changes" money. Each redesign of the basic plan costs a fortune in donation money, and there is less and less of that all the time. The convention center is not an appropriate forum for the Le May plan. It could make a nice public display space for a few examples, but in no way could support the actual museum plan. Let's disregard the fact that the museum complex is designed for the specific geographic location at the Dome site, and let's ignore the restoration bays and the non-display environmentally controlled storage areas for the moment- and look at just one element of the Le May plan- the show field. The Show Field is a REALLY BIG part of what makes the museum plan attractive to the international automotive community, and that requires the kind of open acerage that the Dome lots provide - and the view of downtown and city waterway from there are part of the package. The sad thing is, few will realize what a jewel we are about to lose here. This is why I don't post on certain threads. It's pointless. (Besides, given recent history- are we going to start taking the city council's side of any argument without even questioning them? I didn't think so. R.R., you can fix this when you are on the council- heh, heh.) |
 by Mofo from the Hood on 12/15/2009 @ 4:24pm | Does Pacific Plaza have enough parking spaces to hold the LeMay Car Collection?
There's a fortune to be made in retail Coke and Ball Park Franks. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 4:25pm | Thank you sir! |
 by Thorax O'Tool on 12/15/2009 @ 4:49pm | We need to address other ways of making $$$ that are financially smart. Why not erect a 100' tall neon sign on top? Corporate sponsorchip! It could be the Doritos Pacific Plaza or the Mountain Dew eXtreme Pacific Plaza or the Pacific Plaza Presented by Liberty Bail Bonds I mean, as long as we're doing what make most logical sense, right? Well, why not expand it and get some corporate sponsorship to finally construct the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center Spire presented by Trojan. |
by jenyum on 12/15/2009 @ 10:50pm | Jail Sucks Plaza has a certain ring to it...
And if we really wanted something with Pacific Northwest cultural relevance that Trojan Spire could be in the shape of a goeduck. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/15/2009 @ 11:18pm | all you guys do is think of penises. and it's sad. |
by Thorax O'Tool on 12/15/2009 @ 11:27pm | Like you don't. |
by jenyum on 12/16/2009 @ 7:52am | Why, I have no idea what you are talking about. |
by fredo on 12/16/2009 @ 9:05am | "the convention center is not an appropriate forum for the lemay plan"-Jinx
Maybe not. But the convention center is already built and no one's using it. Most comments I've seen suggesting the lemay move into the convention center suggested it would be a good "interim" location while the final museum was getting it's financing and construction under way. Why can't it be a temporary lemay? The main convention floor could hold all the autos most people could stand to look at, it's huge. And the meeting rooms on the lower levels could be used to display the lemay's other assorted collections such as meat grinders. Your other points about the Dome's "specific geographical location, environmentally controlled storage, and view of downtown" are really specious in the context of our current recession. As I recall the collection is currently being stored in a barn. Is that sort of storage preferable to the convention center? |
by NineInchNachos on 12/16/2009 @ 9:25am | tollefson would make an awesome temporary display field. |
by The Jinxmedic on 12/16/2009 @ 11:38am | As a temporary facility to showcase some of the collection, the Convention Center would be fine- just not as a permanent home.
Tollefson is designed for special events, a summer car show would certainly qualify. (Maybe a CLAW-sponsored hearse and safari car show...) However, there already is a perfectly adequate temporary facility displaying a significant portion of the collection - in the former Marymount Academy in Spanaway- (definitely not a barn). Several hundred more vehicles are stored at the LeMay residence, in a number of special garages (and yes, including a converted barn) under decent environmental controls. These vehicles can currently be viewed only by invitation, (or during special events where the property is open) due to its nature as a private residence. With the length of time this project has dragged on, the LeMay foundation has sold off a significant number of "less important" vehicles to raise revenue to keep it alive. Every delay burns this capital, which is why the property collateral is so important to secure new sources of financing for the museum complex. |
by NineInchNachos on 12/25/2009 @ 4:09pm | reposting here for posterity:
from ixia: "Wherever the McMenamins restore a historic site, people flock to it in droves. This can reasonably be expected in Tacoma as well, since it happened over fifty times before. So if the city supports the development I am in support of that. I personally find parking garages the most retarded architectural pieces in existence, but people seem to want it. Let�s wait and see what happens, I am very hopeful on this one, and that is hard given the city�s track record. Now if you look at the Pacific Plaza building, that is another story altogether. There the city pays favorite not for NEW economic activity, but for a developer who cannibalizes business in other office properties so her can rent what should be retail to office for the AG. The AG in turn ends up wasting over a half a million bucks a year just for moving two blocks over, and we pay the bill. End result? Zero net gain in economic development downtown, a developer who does as he pleases while the city council changes retail rules to favor him, the destruction of our historic Luzon because the developer did not like looking at it, and a half million dollars a year more in government rent spending while schools for the disabled are being closed. So yeah, we do not need developers who screw Tacoma and the State like Putnam does. The McMenamins have a different story and I am willing to believe in the Elks. For now..." |
by NineInchNachos on 1/4/2011 @ 10:39am | breaking news at tribnet.com
Full-service grocery store coming to downtown Tacoma's Pacific Plaza Read more: blog.thenewstribune.com/business/2011/01... |
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