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Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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It was a grocery, a tire store, a florist shop, the Ozark Tavern and a tea emporium. Hookers once offered their services on the top floor – and now their former brothel has been leased to attorneys.
The street-level space that once boasted some of the country's best jazz may become a cafe.
It’s been five years to the day since this newspaper reported the last call at Kelly’s, the Tacoma jazz club named for and run by musician Red Kelly. The building, pictured here this afternoon, is located at 1101 Tacoma Ave. S. across from the Tacoma Public Library.
After the club closed, the building was sold to Tacoma attorney Pat Palace. Red died less than a year later, and the building – constructed c. 1887 and known as the Roberts-Parker Building – gradually fell into disuse.
Well, it’s been sold once again and the new owners have begun a major restoration.
“We want to restore it as best we can to its original facade,” said Tacoma attorney Bryan Hershman. I spoke with him earlier today.
In partnership with fellow attorney Gary Clower and builder Paul Edminster, Hershman bought the building in May. The Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer notes a sale price of $980,000.
“The top floor is already leased to attorneys,” Hershman said. "We’re ready to lease the bottom floor.” Of the main floor, facing Tacoma Avenue, Hershman said, “It will probably be a coffee shop. We’ve had everybody from bars to small restaurants (asking about it).”
Interior demolition has already begun, and rehabilitation will continue on the exterior after the partners secure a permit. A small white building behind the property will be demolished to accommodate parking, Hershman said.
He recalled the days when a pre-Kelly's occupant, Siri’s, sold the best pie in the area, back when the space was a regular gathering spot for attorneys who practiced at nearby courtrooms. It was “the hub of the legal community. Everybody was down there drinking martinis and talking law.”
Hershman’s final verdict: “It’s just such a wonderful location. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
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