January 4, 2022

Olson Kundig announced as lead architect for Tacoma's ‘Ship Lofts'

Rendering by David Grieshaber [enlarge]

Ship Lofts aims to be a “world class living community.” This image by David Grieshaber was produced prior to Olson Kundig’s appointment as lead architect.

Olson Kundig has been announced as the lead architect for a unique mixed-use multifamily luxury residential project in Tacoma.

The planned project, called “Ship Lofts,” takes its name both from its location on Tacoma's historic waterfront docks and its current design, which is intended to look like an abstracted ship.

The project has ambitious goals. Initial plans for Ship Lofts are for a building that will rise five stories and 85 feet across from the Thea Foss Waterway on one of the last privately owned plots of land on Tacoma's waterfront. The project site, which is an elongated shape and 1.29 acres, is currently a parking lot. It was previously home to Colonial Fruit & Produce and Pacific Fruit and Produce for over one hundred years. Current designs show an approximately 100,000 square-foot building with 30 luxury one and two-bedroom units on floors one through five and 1,710 square-foot of retail space in converted cargo containers on the site. Plans also include parking spaces for 28 cars, 40 bikes and four dock mooring spaces for residents. The project is also designed to be eco-friendly and is anticipated to be built using CLT mass timber and recycled materials. It is also seeking Living Building Challenge (LBC) and Salmon Safe certification goals. If achieved Ship Lofts would be the largest LBC residential building and the first LBC and Salmon Safe building in Tacoma.

Ship Lofts, and the current design of the project, is the brainchild of entrepreneur, inventor, and now developer and CEO of Ship Lofts, David Grieshaber. Grieshaber has previously designed single family homes but Ship Lofts is his first foray into multi family development. Grieshaber has been working on the project for three years and after finding the development site has been assiduously putting together what he calls an “A-Team” to see his vision for Ship Lofts realized. Olson Kundig, the first member of that team to be announced, will now take over and produce the project’s actual design. Olson Kundig will provide design, architecture, interior and landscape design services.

“This will be a destination building,” Grieshaber said. “In my original design I wanted to pay homage to the maritime and postindustrial history of the area and also create something unique and different from the boxy cookie-cutter and ultra-dense multi-family housing units that are typical in Tacoma. I want to create a building I'd be proud to live in myself,” he continued.

European buildings provided a big inspiration for Grieshaber, who argues that these are often more creative, inventive, and architecturally significant than buildings in the US. “In the US it can feel like everything is just built and designed to maximize the amount of units and profit,” he explained.

Image courtesy of Bernard Khoury [enlarge]

Factory Lofts in Beirut, Lebanon, designed and developed by Bernard Khoury, was a big inspiration for the project’s initial concept.

Ship Lofts intends to be the opposite and, according to the project website, should be viewed as “an iconic building sized art installation.” The project website describes Grieshaber's vision as a mashup between a cargo ship, cruise liner and mega yacht with a hard exterior of glass and black framing and a “soft and gooey” exposed mass timber interior.

“We're excited to be a part of this project,” Kirsten Ring Murray, principal and owner at Olson Kundig, said. Ring Murray also shared that she expects the project to evolve and that final designs will likely depart from the current renderings but that the project will remain influenced by David's vision and the rich maritime and industrial history and formal context of the project site.

“There isn't another site quite like this in our area. There is so much room for storytelling and creative possibilities at this site and with this project,” Ring Murray added.

Grieshaber also explained why he thinks Tacoma is the perfect site for the project. “With Bellevue beginning to max out in terms of development and with more and more people working from home, I think Tacoma is the prime market for the next tech diaspora. There are currently 43,000+ units in planning for Tacoma but none that is solely focused on luxury units.”

This is where Ship Lofts hopes to come in (the City of Tacoma estimates that 3-5% of units in the city need to be in the luxury market). Olson Kundig also has a long history of working in Tacoma. Previous projects include the Tacoma Art Museum and the Foss Waterway Seaport Maritime Museum which is located neat the Ship Lofts site. This is another reason the company was drawn to the project

Grieshaber currently has an agreement to purchase the project site and expects to close and finalize the sale by April 2022 when final funds have been raised. The asking price for the land was $3.5 million. Grieshaber will be announcing more members of the project team, including the general contractor, over the coming weeks. Construction is estimated to begin in 2025, For more information visit https://shiplofts.com/ .