Can Tacoma become the next Portland?

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by spotown11

Young people working in the service industry are increasingly being priced out of Seattle and often look to Tacoma for a much cheaper urban lifestyle. They are developing light rail and new high density residential developments are popping up in many areas of town. The artists and hipsters have been coming in fairly rapidly.

The next Portland is probably an exaggeration, but Tacoma will definitely thrive provided some major setback. Kind of like a San Francisco/Oakland dynamic.

I agree with this as I live in Portland and from S.F.., I can see Tacoma being an independent city with its own flavor than Seattle but also kind of a bedroom community benefiting from Seattle's thriving economy.

[DevanXL]

Originally Posted by TreasureFM

Interesting thread. I am trying to decide where to move there, but man have rents gone up from even a few months ago! I need to work IN Seattle, but I am not exactly going to be able to afford Seattle rent anytime soon. Coming from California (I know, I know) and yeah this is a huge move for me. Been obsessively looking up stats on just about every city in Western WA, and I am pretty damn confused at this point.. Feels weird moving to a new town alone, and being a female, not exactly wanting to move to the worst parts to pay cheap rent.

What type of jobs are you looking at?

[Jake840]

I work in Downtown Tacoma and live on Hilltop. I think DT Tacoma has really good bones (nice, very clean, safe, great buildings, institutions, etc) and everything is in place for private development to come in and really make a difference. One issue with DT Tacoma though is that it is very large and spread out for a city its size (about the same size as Downtown Seattle). Just think if what is there now was placed in an area 1/3 or 1/2 the size of Downtown. It would probably be booming on all cylinders.

Living on Hilltop, I think the Hilltop Business District is going to see a lot of growth coming soon. It already has great restaurants, bars, banks, a grocery store and the LINK streetcar is coming. There are a few multi-family housing projects planned on MLK.
And yes I love living on Hilltop. Very little crime, quiet, amazing houses. FYI the city stopped using Upper Tacoma (that it adopted in the early 90's when it was bad) and went back to Hilltop as the official name for the neighborhood and business district. If that says anything to people.

[CanuckInPortland]

Tacoma won't become the next Portland, just like Portland won't ever become the next Seattle. Tacoma does have the chance to be a really interesting place in the future though, it already is in a way,. Though every time I stop there driving up to Seattle or Vancouver I find the downtown to have some great old architecture and nice location--though it's just really quiet--at least it is when I'm there.

[elkotronics]

Tacoma's always had a quiet downtown. My Grandpa was Administrator of Public Schools for the Tacoma School District back in the 50's and 60's and he and Grandma lived in Gig Harbor. We would visit them from our parent's home in Edmonds all the time. We got the "Galloping Gertie" story ingrained in our heads at an early age!

But we would go in Grandpa's Buick Special in to downtown Tacoma occasionally. It seemed to be intelligently laid out and very...staid and quiet. Indeed. Tacoma is not going to be able to compete with Seattle. Tacoma loses to Seattle in the history department. Big time.

[PrincessoftheCape]

I think Tacoma is too close to Seattle physically to ever feel truly independent. If anything, as both cities continue to grow, I expect its identity to be subsumed even further beneath Seattle's.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by PrincessoftheCape

I think Tacoma is too close to Seattle physically to ever feel truly independent. If anything, as both cities continue to grow, I expect its identity to be subsumed even further beneath Seattle's.

Tacoma is about exactly the same distance to Seattle (34 miles) as Baltimore is to Washington DC (38 miles) or Fort Worth is to Dallas (32 miles).

Baltimore and Fort Worth both have very distinct identities. Tacoma boosters might look to how Fort Worth has carved out a unique identity and is thriving in the greater DFW area. By many measures it is frankly a nicer and more liveable city than Dallas.