Forterra promised affordable housing on Hilltop — but the old Rite Aid still stands | Opinion

Hilltop is buzzing with change.

At South 10th and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, work on the five-story Aspire11 development — which will include 289 units of housing and retail space when it’s completed — has been underway for roughly a year, slowly turning a prominently vacant corner into a future hub of urban activity.

A few blocks away, the Tacoma Housing Authority’s transformation of nearly two blocks of South L St. — the agency’s largest affordable housing project since the redevelopment of Salishan two decades ago — is taking shape, designed to help retain the neighborhood’s culture and character amid an undercurrent of gentrification. Nearby, the Koz on MLK mixed-use development has been up and running since 2022, and the Hilltop Lofts — a 57-unit permanent supportive housing complex on the corner Mr. Mac made famous — has been open for business since late the same year.

With all the cranes and construction and hard hats and ribbon cuttings, it can be easy to lose focus on one part of Hilltop that, at least when it comes to the neighborhood’s skyline, hasn’t changed much at all over the last 20 years — the full city block where the old Rite Aid once operated.

But that would be a mistake, because when the dust settles, what eventually emerges at the once lifeless property — a 1.6-acre site abandoned by Rite Aid in 2005 and purchased in 2019 by the local nonprofit Forterra — will play a major role in determining how Hilltop looks and feels for years to come.

From the get-go, Forterra has promised to turn what’s long been an eyesore into an epicenter of affordable housing and community space — all things Hilltop desperately needs more of. But four years later, most of those promises have yet to materialize, even while other ambitious development projects now surround the old Rite Aid.

So what’s the latest challenge?

As recently as November, Forterra told The News Tribune it was in “confidential negotiations” with a “locally-owned developer” to take over oversight of its development, with a “public announcement” expected as soon as a deal was reached.

They were words chosen to reassure, undercut in mid-April, when Forterra acknowledged it was essentially back to square one — now back to talking with “multiple” developers — even though roughly six months have passed since the last time the nonprofit faced public questions about the development’s status.

“The initial vision to provide attainable housing and business space in a manner that addresses anti-displacement, social and economic equity still holds true today,” the nonprofit said in a statement provided to The News Tribune via email on April 19, indicating it was “not attributable to any individual.”

“Forterra continues to work to transition this property to a qualified developer who can finance and build a mixed-use project informed by community priorities, with aspirations for a mixed affordable and market-rate housing development including both rental and ownership opportunities along with space for local businesses,” the statement continued. “We are currently in communication with multiple affordable housing developers. It would not be appropriate to provide details about negotiations at this point.”

In the same statement, Forterra confirmed to The News Tribune that the Tacoma-based nonprofit Empowering People in Communities, which is run by former Hilltop Action Coalition president Brendan Nelson, has been chosen to “manage and operate” the site until development eventually occurs.

Nelson, in Forterra’s words, is “a Hilltop community leader who has been involved in the 1105 project as a member of Fab 5 and the Hilltop Community Impact Council since 2019.”

“It was important to Forterra that a community member with familiarity with the project manage the interim space and continue to operate it as it was intended- as a community hub,” the nonprofit’s statement said.

On Facebook, Empowering People in Communities describes work related to community food insecurity and access to health care and housing, while centering traditionally underrepresented voices.

Multiple attempts to reach Nelson for comment were unsuccessful.

Reactivating a ‘useless’ building

Before we go too far, it’s worth noting the complexities at play — and there are plenty of them.

I’ve been writing about the old Hilltop Rite Aid since 2015, shortly after I arrived at The News Tribune. Even then the dead zone it created in the Hilltop business district was a touchy subject. That’s why the sale of the property to Forterra was such a big deal. At long last, it felt like genuine progress was finally on the horizon, with the nonprofit tentatively circling 2022 on the calendar for the start of construction.

What no one realized back then was that the real wait was just beginning, and there would be an alarming string of ominous signs to come.

Most notably, in September 2022 — and with the old drug store still standing — the Snoqualmie Tribe accused Forterra of lying during the process of applying for a $20 million federal grant tied to the sustainable harvest of timber from the tribe’s forest lands, a self-inflicted public relations disaster that raised serious questions about the nonprofit’s ability to deliver on its promise to Hilltop, including from investors. The nonprofit also faced significant criticism from former employees, and Tobias Levey, Forterra’s former vice president, was given the boot.

At the same time — and this is where the debate gets muddy in a neighborhood accustomed to being ignored — what Forterra has managed to accomplish at the old Rite Aid, despite all the challenges and delays, deserves recognition, many on Hilltop will tell you.

According to Tacoma City Council member Keith Blocker, the nonprofit’s extensive outreach efforts have been genuine, engaging a breadth of community perspectives and voices in the planning process.

Blocker also noted that the old drug store, now covered in vibrant paint, is currently being used as a hub for local arts and culture, including providing a much-needed home to the Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center.

“With this process being so slow, for all the different reasons, what I can say is that Forterra has done a good job at reactivating a building that was useless to our community. (Forterra) invested, utilizing Black artists and Black contractors, and they did a really good job at that, and now (the building) is a resource,” Blocker said.

”It is my hope that, at this point, we can operate with a sense of urgency so that we can deliver a development project that offers access to housing, access to affordable housing, and access for Black community members who have historically been disenfranchised,” he added.

If there’s a path forward to be found in all of this, it’s likely in the juxtaposition Blocker described — and in his determination to see the original vision through to completion.

The fact that the old Rite Aid building has found a valuable use for the time being is a good thing. There’s no doubt about it.

But if Forterra is serious about preserving and supporting Hilltop as a place that matters — like it promised — it’s going to take much more than that.

“Nothing good happens overnight,” Blocker said, looking back on the last four years.

“It seems like, right now, Forterra is committed, and working with the appropriate parties so they can deliver,” he added

“I do wish the process could have moved faster.”