Downtown, Tacoma, Washington

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Downtown Tacoma is located primarily between Pacific Avenue and St. Helens. The center of downtown Tacoma is the intersection of 9th and Broadway, the locations of the historic Rialto Theater, Pantages Theater, Theater on the Square and the Bostwick Building. The city holiday tree is located here as well.

1 Tacoma Convention Center
2 Revitalization efforts and progress
3 Restaurants
4 Historic buildings
5 Coffee Shops
6 External links

[edit] Tacoma Convention Center

The Tacoma Convention Center was built in 2004 at a cost of $84 million dollars. The facility has a 14,000 ft ballroom and 277,000 sq feet of convention space and 11,000 sq ft of meeting space. The building of the convention center has been interpreted by many as the acceleration of a renaissance in Tacoma.

[edit] Revitalization efforts and progress

Downtown Tacoma started its major effort of revitalization efforts with the renovation of Union Station in 1990 and has continued to date. The Tacoma City Council passed the Local Improvement District for St. Helens Street in April of 2006 which was designed to improve areas which have been neglected.

Central to the revitalization effort has been the city's adoption of the tax exemption for new residential units in multifamily dwellings which have mainly consisted of condominiums. Starting in 2002, downtown Tacoma began seeing residential units being built downtown. The Winthrop Hotel was recently puchased by a developer to restore the building to a four star hotel in the heart of downtown.

[edit] Restaurants

Since 2001, Downtown Tacoma has seen a plethora of new restaurants springing up downtown, on and around Pacific Avenue. These include Paddy Coynes, Sea Grill, Pacific Grill, The Melting Pot, 21 Commerce, El Gaucho, Vin Grotto, Matador, Puget Sound Pizza, Maconi's and more. Most of the new restaurants have included a urban renewal theme and have refurbished old brick warehouses and transformed them into elegant eateries.

[edit] Historic buildings

Downtown Tacoma is well known for historic buildings most built at the end of the 19th century. The buildings include the Old City Hall Building, Union Station, Elks Temple, Bostwick Building and the Winthrop Hotel.