A planned development in Edgewood is set to bring a mixed-use multiacre-housing project in the coming years.
The project, Dhaliwal TC Landing, will encompass 16.83 acres in the area of 1926 Meridian Ave. E.
New Jersey-based private lender Kennedy Funding on April 9 announced it had secured a $2.7 million “land loan” to help fund the project for developer Dhaliwal TC Landing, LLC, affiliated with a collection of investors, according to state incorporation files.
Loan proceeds will assist with payoff and working capital for the development, according to the announcement. The release added, “In 2019, the borrower purchased the collateral in four individual and contiguous tax parcels for $3 million, with assemblage costs of $6.3 million.”
Neither a Dhaliwal TC Landing LLC representative nor the project’s architect, Jesse Hadley of Milbrandt Architects, responded to requests for comment from The News Tribune.
The project will include 578 multi-family units and 31,500 square feet of commercial space.
Lauren Balisky, Community & Economic Development director for Edgewood, told The News Tribune in response to questions, “The Dhaliwal project is still under review at this time.”
Balisky referred The News Tribune to the city’s online permit portal for more information.
Edgewood Mayor Dave Olson told The News Tribune via email: “Unfortunately, at this time, I don’t really have anything to add. I have not been involved in this project in previous years, and there hasn’t been anything significant so far here in 2024 for me to comment on. I wish I did have some things to comment on with this project, but I just don’t.”
While the project is working its way through permitting, neighbors have opinions.
“I’m concerned with that many apartments in a small piece of property,” Edgewood resident Linda Howard said.
Howard has lived in the area for over 50 years. She lives off 16th Street East, near the project.
Howard said she is concerned traffic would worsen when the project is built. There is an elementary school nearby that gets “backed up” in the afternoon when parents pick up their children, she said.
Howard said she would prefer to see restaurants or stores on the property instead.
“Everybody’s tired of seeing apartments,” Howard said.
Part of larger trend
Edgewood thus far has not been in the development spotlight as much as neighboring cities.
Amid Tacoma’s recent wave of new apartments and the city’s Home in Tacoma initiative to encourage more missing-middle housing development , new developments are also making their way through permitting in the suburbs.
The News Tribune recently reported on a new multifamily and mixed-use village planned for DuPont.
The City of Lakewood also has announced hundreds of new apartments planned for the Lakewood Towne Center area .
Puyallup has a new apartment building in the works.
Plans for the project in Edgewood emerged pre-pandemic.
According to the project’s environmental review, the project calls for two five-story buildings, one three-story building, eight four-story buildings, a clubhouse with pool and pool house, and two-level underground parking garages and public plazas/courtyards.
The CEO of the New Jersey-based lending firm, Kevin Wolfer, made clear why he thought the development was worthwhile for investment — its proximity to both Tacoma and “the tech and cultural capital of Seattle,” he said. “This makes housing and retail a good use of property, where both the population and employment opportunities are growing.”
Not everyone is convinced.
Fife resident Troy Roy owns a house in Edgewood, right behind the project. He said there is not enough buffer between the two.
“That’s not something you want to live right next to,” Roy said.
In 2020, many public respondents expressed their frustrations about the site in emails shared by the city with The News Tribune.
“It is clearly evident in the application for Dhaliwal TC Landing that you are so far down the planning path you could not back out now, even if concerned citizens did mount an effort to oppose it, without legal ramifications,” wrote one resident. “This is the disrespect and unethical practices that confront this community on a daily basis.”
“Please put the growth in homes and save our city,” wrote another. “Most would rather pay higher taxes then bring this over-abundance of apartments.”
Another resident was in favor of the project, writing: “Yes we need more stores etc., but growth is good and as a newish Edgewood resident ... I am in full support of growing and doing it the right way.”
Early in the public comment cycle of the project, Hadley wrote a letter to the city addressing public comments received at that time.
“We realize that this can be a big change from what you are used to,” Hadley wrote in December 2020, “and there is nothing else currently out there in your city at quite this scale.
“However, as your city continues to grow there is a general need to do so at higher densities,” he added.
“The goal of our project is to contribute to the housing need within the zone. Business and retail will want to go to where the people are. So, if you want to bring new business in, this is the type of development you will need.”
He also pushed back on public sentiments over the groundswell of additional renters entering the community, and what effect the new development might have on surrounding neighborhoods’ property values.
“What we are proposing here with our development is not some form of second-class housing,” he wrote. “The apartments we propose are clean and attractive, being of contemporary design, and constructed with the same high-quality materials and skilled labor that would be used with a detached home.”
“We are building the type of place where people can say they are proud of where they live,” he added.
Environmental review
The project received a revised mitigated determination of nonsignificance (MDNS) from the city earlier this year . A preliminary MDNS had been issued in June 2022.
Balisky told The News Tribune via email in response to questions, “We did not receive any appeals on either the original MDNS or the revised MDNS.”
Revisions were necessary after changes to the project, including the purchase of an additional parcel for wetland mitigation, according to the new MDNS.
The environmental report noted that there was potential soil contamination from prior land use, including agriculture, a hydroseeding (fertilizer) business and heating oil tanks from “around existing shed structures.”
That will require soil testing and site remediation, among a list of other mitigation measures for the project to proceed.
The state Department of Ecology also weighed in on the development in a Feb. 8 letter to the city during the project’s comment period as part of the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review process.
Ecology focused on hazardous waste mitigation and reducing the spread of any potential toxins during site demolition, including asbestos abatement. It also cautioned developers to be on the lookout for other potential contaminants based on its proximity to a gas station and another site nearby on Meridian Avenue East.
“If contamination is suspected, discovered, or occurs during construction associated with the 578-unit mixed-use development building, testing ... must be conducted,” Ecology stated in its letter. “If contamination of soil or groundwater is readily apparent, or is revealed by sampling, the Department of Ecology must be notified.”
Emily Lim is Ecology’s communications manager for the department’s Central Region. Lim told The News Tribune in response to questions that beyond the SEPA review and its participation with submitted comments, “we are not providing additional environmental review on the project at this time. The city is the lead SEPA agency.”
Those involved in putting a funding deal together acknowledged the project’s hurdles so far.
“We faced environmental issues and problems with the developer agreement,” said Jackson Zhang of Golden Tree Lending in the April loan announcement and who connected Dhaliwal TC Landing with the lender.
“Kennedy Funding did everything they could to get the loan to the closing table,” he added.
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