December 6, 2024

Construction to start next month on Tacoma maritime campus

Renderings by TCF Architecture [enlarge]

The Port of Tacoma’s new building is expected to open in early 2027.

The Port of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) are expecting to break ground next month on a new maritime center on the eastern shores of the Foss Waterway in Tacoma.

The DJC first reported on the joint development project, called the Port Maritime Center, last December. Groundbreaking was originally expected in March.

The new campus will comprise two buildings: a regional career and technical education (CTE) center, called Maritime 253, to be owned and operated by TPS, and a new business center for the port.

Both will rise on a port-owned waterfront site spanning 20 acres that is part of an area called the Tideflats. The DJC previously reported the project address as 1203 E. D St.

The vision, according to the port, is to create a campus that will “inspire and build the maritime workforce of the future.”

TPS's new building will be roughly 35,000 square feet. The academic facility will offer CTE courses for up to 300 junior and senior high-school level students from across Pierce County, free of charge. The facility will include CTE classrooms, lab spaces, and shoreline access along the Foss Waterway. Courses will be offered on manufacturing, skilled trades, maritime sustainability, transportation, technology, and logistics.

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TPS’s Maritime 253 building will offer courses on manufacturing, skilled trades, maritime sustainability, transportation, technology, and logistics. It should open in the fall of 2026.

The business center, which will be owned and operated by the port, will be the larger building and around 60,000 square feet. It will include commission chambers for public meetings and new workspace for Port of Tacoma employees and employees of the Northwest Seaport Alliance.

New walking trails will be created through the campus with interpretive signs and public shoreline access.

TCF Architecture and BNBuilders is the design-build team for both buildings. The structures will have complementary architecture with massing that evokes maritime themes and crisp, bright facades.

The structural engineer for TPS's building is AHBL. AHBL also provided planning services.

The Port of Tacoma Commissioners gave their final approval for the Port Maritime Center on Nov. 19. Tacoma Public Schools Board members gave their final approval on Nov. 14.

The project site is contaminated due to past industrial uses. From 1889 until 1951, the Wheeler-Osgood Company operated a door mill on the property. Environmental remediation began this fall.

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The Port Maritime Center will include a new business center for the Port of Tacoma, shown left, and a regional career and technical education center owned and operated by Tacoma Public Schools.

“We are transforming historically contaminated land into collaborative ground where education, innovation and opportunity can take root and thrive,” Port of Tacoma commission president Kristin Ang shared in a news release.

TPS anticipates completing construction of the Maritime 253 building by the fall of 2026. Maritime 253 programs will launch next fall and will be located at interim sites until construction is completed.

The port plans to open the business center in early 2027.

The port and school district are each paying for their own building, with the school district also contributing to the cost of site development work.

The Port of Tacoma's Capital Investment Plan budgets $150 million for the port's part of the project.

The DJC previously reported that the estimated construction costs for the CTE building are $35 million. TPS did not respond to a request for an updated budget number before deadline on Thursday.