About Tacoma's Hilltop

The Evergreen State College - Tacoma Campus, located in Tacoma, Washington is designed for Juniors and Seniors in college. It has been operating there since 1982. In the next year, they will be starting their first master's degree program for this location (it will be for Masters in Teaching). They recently moved from their original site to a new facility a few blocks away.

The Evergreen State College - Tacoma provides a community responsive interdisciplinary liberal arts education.

A reviewer of the campus had this to say:

"It's a very small campus (just one building) so everything is easy to find. There is a parking lot and parking is free, which is great!

All the rooms are numbered including the bathrooms in case you get lost. The campus is "fragrance free" which is a new concept for most colleges...."

This is the fourth in a continuing series on higher education in Tacoma, WA.

“Did he say Tacoma?”… Yes, Tacoma… I know shocking right? So here it is, and investor special coming to market soon. Great chance for sweat equity and rental income in the #1 market area for housing. Details…

1946 S. Hosmer Street | Tacoma, WA 98405

• 3 Bedroom | 1 Bath
• 1231sqft Finished | 856sqft Unfinished Basement
• .165 Acres Fenced
• Remodeled Bathroom
• Newer Gas Furnace
• Newer Sewer Line
• Close to Highway 16, I-5, & Downtown Tacoma

Call me for details. Will be priced to move quickly on cash or rehab…

It has been amazing to watch the transformation of downtown Tacoma and neighboring Hilltop, so named because it is perched on a bluff overlooking downtown, Commencement Bay and Mt. Rainier. I remember seeing Hilltop on the show Cops in Tacoma at a time when there was a proliferation of gang activity and crime.

A lot has changed. Wikipedia has this to say: "Since the mid-1990s, neighborhood watch efforts, increased police presence, commercial real estate development efforts along Martin Luther King Way, and rising real estate values in all areas adjoining downtown Tacoma have served to lower the amount of crime in Hilltop". What has happened is a renaissance of that area. There are new restaurants and businesses, a light rail line with expansion plans and museums. The University of Washington Tacoma campus has been expanding since its inception.

One of my clients, The Gintz Group, a real estate developer, is headquartered in downtown Tacoma in the Mecca, a building that was once an adult movie house, but which they have since renovated beautifully into a mix of office and residential use. They are currently developing a site at the corner of 23rd and Martin Luther King Way. Here they partnered with Ivory and Eric Crittendon in a planned mixed-use redevelopment of a former brownfield site. The site was a gas station in the 1940s and 50s before housing Ivory's Auto Rebuild. The first phase of the redevelopment plan is well under way with the excavation of storage tanks and soil remediation to be completed this week. This will clear the way for a 6 story mid-rise building that will house high-end apartments and commercial / retail space.

And just down the street is a project I am representing for sale: 27th Street Station Condominiums. Despite the economic downturn, 27th Street Station has sold 17 units since opening in April and is the fastest selling condo in Tacoma. Dave Gintz says the success is attributable to deluxe finishes, low prices starting at $124,990, with monthly payments of about $1,000. You can get a condo at the Station with a view of Mount Rainier for less than rent, particularly now with historically low interest rates. Forgive me touting my listing here, but I'm just very excited about the project and the area generally.