May 27, 2016

McMenamins preparing to start Tacoma Elks Lodge renovation

Courtesy McMenamins and Kathleen Nyberg [enlarge]

The lodge was built in 1915, with Spanish Steps modeled after Rome’s Scalinata di Spagna. It will become a hotel with a brewery, bars and restaurants, and a variety of event spaces.

McMenamins is known for turning historic structures into new attractions, but the old Tacoma Elks Lodge might be its toughest job yet.

Several developers took a run at the 101-year-old property at 565 Broadway but gave up, so in 2009 McMenamins bought the structure for $1.2 million.

Turning the lodge into a hotel with a brewery, bars and restaurants will be challenging but founders Mike and Brian McMenamin offered a media tour yesterday and said they want to get going. The only hurdle remaining before construction starts is securing another $4 million in crowdfunding from accredited investors. McMenamins is using crowdfunding to raise about $10 million for the $32 million project, just as it did with Anderson School in Bothell. So far, about $6 million has been raised for the Elks lodge.

McMenamins expects to open the complex next year with a 46-room hotel, a ballroom for live music, space for other live events, a McMenamins brewery, and several restaurants and bars.

Mike McMenamin said the investors are asked to commit a minimum of $150,000. They come from all over, but at least one is from Tacoma. Information is at elkstempleproperties.com/.

Since McMenamins got the building, the budget for the renovation has almost doubled. That has slowed the project, but hasn't stopped it.

“We hit a speed bump when construction costs went up and restoration costs went up too. That slowed us down,” said Brian McMenamin.

Most of the hotel rooms will be on the top floor. Today the floor is one large space, but when the project is complete there will be rooms along the side as well as a few stacked on top of each other.

There could be a skylight in the middle and a garden to grow ingredients for the restaurant. McMenamins plans to hang the original Tacoma Elks Lodge medallion from the ceiling of that floor.

Ankrom Moisan Architects designed the renovation, and Andersen Construction is the general contractor.

The building now is a maze of rooms of all sizes, with stairways that twist and turn throughout. This will allow a number of different events such as concerts, weddings, billiards and games of handball.

The McMenamins said there may even be a few secret bars that only savvy customers who make the correct turns will know how to find. They will be small to encourage people to interact.

“You have to talk to the person next to you because you are so close,” Mike McMenamin said.

The lodge has been vacant since 1967. McMenamins wants to preserve as much of the original structure as possible.

Today, the interior is covered with graffiti. A lot of it will get cleaned up, but Mike McMenamin said there might be a place for some “guerrilla street art.” Art is a big part of every McMenamins project, the founders said.

The Spanish Steps, which are modeled after the Scalinata di Spagna in Rome, were rehabilitated through a 2011 grant from WSDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.

The hilltop site gives the lodge great waterfront views, and the large ballroom is similar to the Crystal Ballroom in a McMenamins' property in Portland.

When the lodge is done, McMenamins will move right down the street to do its next Tacoma project: the old City Hall. McMenamins is talking with the city about turning it into a hotel.

Mike McMenamin said he wants to finish the Elks Lodge before finalizing plans for City Hall.