Ground-breaking for the first of two new hotels on downtown Tacoma's Foss Waterway could come this fall.

That's the latest word from Bellingham's Hollander Investments which plans to buy the potential hotel site near South 15th and Dock streets early this fall from Seattle hotelier Bob Thurston.

If construction begins, it will be a long-delayed victory for the Thea Foss Waterway Authority, which has waited five years for a hotel to be built. The authority, which is overseeing redevelopment of the formerly industrial waterway, has worked unsuccessfully with two prior developers to see a hotel constructed.

Hollander told the Tacoma City Council's Economic Development Committee this week that its preliminary plans call for construction of a 96-room Mariott Residence Inn on the south side of the site beginning this fall.

The second hotel, likely a Hilton with 128 rooms, would be built on the site's north side near the Esplanade condominium project. Construction of that second hotel would begin sometime between 2013 and 2015 depending on market conditions.

An office structure would be built at the same time as the second hotel. The office structure would visually link the two hotels to form a u-shaped configuration with the open end facing the waterway.

The development would include partially underground parking to serve all three buildings and retail and commercial space facing the water totally some 5,700 square feet in the final development.

Each of the hotel structures would be 9 stories tall.
Total investment in the project would be $35 to $40 million according to Hollander.

Holland owns the Marriott Courtyard Tacoma Hotel among other hotel properties.

Don Meyer, the waterway authority's director, said Hollander must begin construction by March of next year under the shoreline development permits obtained by Thurston.

If construction doesn't begin, the lengthy process of applying for those permits will start anew.

The waterway authority will meet Wednesday at 4 p.m. at its offices in the Dock office building to consider approving a new development agreement for the hotel.

The City Council must also approve new agreements with Hollander that would protect Hollander from claims related to past pollution on the site. Most of that pollution has been cleaned up.

The authority worked with two prior developers to build a hotel on the site, but neither was able to make the financing work.

Thurston, the site's present owner, hoped to build a boutique hotel. He added condominiums to the building design during the condo boom, but failed to find financing after the housing market crashed.

A jumbo-sized containership longer than the QE2 or the Navy's aircraft carriers, called on the Port of Seattle this week.

The ZIM Djibouti with a capacity of 10,000 20-foot shipping containers, was the largest containership ever to call at the port.

The ship called on the port's Terminal 18 Thursday.

The Zim Djibouti is 1,145 feet long and 151 feet wide. The QE2 is 962 feet long. The USS Abraham Lincoln, a Navy carrier homeported in Everett is 1,092 feet long.

The Zim Djibouti is not the largest containership in the world. That honor belongs to the Emma Maersk and its sister ships. Those ships carry 15,212 20-foot-equivalent container units.

New car registrations in Washington fell by 31.6 percent in July in Washington while used car registrations dropped 10.8 percent in the state, according to new information from Cross-Sell.com.

In the new car segment, 16,602 new cars were titled in the state in July compared with 24,285 in the same month last year.

Compact cars, mid-sized cars and compact sport utility vehicles sold best in the new car segment in the state, reflecting the lingering concern of car buyers about high gas prices.

In the used car market last month, top-selling segments were mid-sized cars, compact sport utilities and compact cars.

Engineers working in Boeing's former Wichita, Kan. plant have rejected a second contract offer from Boeing's successor there, Spirit Aerosystems.

Ninety-three percent of Boeing engineers voting on Spirit's contract proposal said "no" to the latest contract offer. Ninety-two percent voted to authorize a strike at Spirit.

The engineers, represented by the same union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, that represent Boeing engineers in the Puget Sound area, said the Spirit offer was unsatisfactory.

The union said the Spirit contract proposal would double medical premiums eliminate minimum wage increase and takes away overtime pay for the first four hours a week.

The engineers rejected a prior contract offer in July.

The union said it will ask to bring a federal mediator into the talks.

Sea-Tac Airport will use a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to replace 200 gas and diesel vehicles used at the airport with electric vehicles, the airport said this week.

The grant will also help the airport add electric charging stations on the airport's ground level for those new vehicles.

The replacement program is estimated to eliminate some 4,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually at the airport.

The vehicles being replaced include gasoline baggage tractor and loading equipment that are among the thirstiest of the airport's 650 ground vehicles.