A vacant stretch of land near UW Tacoma that developers first eyed during the pandemic is getting another shot, with a new plan calling for an eight-story, 175-unit apartment building estimated to cost $35.3 million. The project, planned for 2534 S. G St., would replace an earlier 149-unit proposal that was approved for tax breaks in 2021 but never broke ground.
The revised proposal, first reported by the Tacoma News Tribune, covers three vacant parcels, including the original project address at 2542 S. G St. The building would include one- to three-bedroom apartments wrapped around a central open-air courtyard, plus rooftop amenity space and secured covered bicycle parking. Parking has grown too: the new plan calls for 126 stalls, up from the 86 stalls included in the original design.
A Site Years in Waiting
Vitaliy Afichuk and affiliated business entities acquired the parcels between September 2019 and February 2020, according to the news outlet's reporting. The site sits near the Goodwill Milgard Work Opportunity Center and next to the Bay Terrace Community and Education Center, about a block from the Goodwill center itself. Permit documents describe the project as high-quality housing within walking distance of UW Tacoma and downtown along Pacific Avenue.
The Tacoma City Council approved an eight-year multifamily property tax exemption for the original project back in 2021. That exemption came with no affordability requirement attached, meaning all units under the original plan could have been offered at market rate. But the project was never built under its former plan, and it passed its exemption's three-year construction window without the developer requesting an extension, per city media representative Maria Lee.
Old Tax Break No Longer Applies
Because the plans have changed so significantly, the original exemption no longer carries over. Lee told the outlet that the plans have changed and the MFTE no longer applies under the modified project, meaning the developer would need to apply for a new exemption to pursue a tax break at all. As of the filing, no new MFTE application has been submitted for the 175-unit plan.
Construction is anticipated to start in July 2027, though development timelines for projects like this one routinely shift before shovels hit the ground. If the developer does pursue a tax incentive this time around, Washington's 12-year MFTE option requires a commitment to rent or sell at least 20% of the newly created units as affordable housing for low- or moderate-income households, according to the Washington State Legislature. The standard eight-year exemption, by contrast, carries no such affordability string attached, per the City of Tacoma's 2021 resolution on the program.
Other Tacoma Projects Taking the 12-Year Route
Elsewhere in Tacoma, developers have increasingly leaned into the 12-year option in exchange for income-restricted units. The Grand on Broadway secured a 12-year extension with 20% of its market-rate units becoming rent-restricted for households earning no more than 70% of Pierce County's area median income, the News Tribune reported. Proctor Station Apartments landed a 12-year extension in April 2024 covering 154 units, including 31 rent-restricted, while the smaller Stadium Vue35 development got the same deal that May for 35 units with seven set aside as rent-restricted.
Tacoma has also been tightening its broader MFTE rules. City officials revised program requirements following a three-year review cycle that followed the 2021 changes, with another review scheduled for 2028 that will consider ways to expand unit sizes for families, according to the News Tribune's coverage of the policy shift. Whether the G Street project's developer ultimately pursues the eight-year or 12-year path — or forgoes a tax exemption altogether — remains unresolved for now, with no new application on file as of the latest filing.
