A $1,000 Lot Sells for $16,000 as Tacoma Booms
A bank building and lot on Pacific Avenue fetches a record price, a sign of the speculative frenzy sweeping the new city.
Mr. A. J. Baker on Tuesday last sold his new bank building and lot on Pacific Avenue and Tenth Street, 25 feet on the former and 120 feet on the latter street, to the Tacoma National Bank for $16,000 cash. The sale represents perhaps the largest price yet paid for a Pacific Avenue lot, irrespective of the building. Less than three years ago Mr. Baker purchased this lot and that adjoining for $1,000. The cost of the new building will probably not exceed from $7,000 to $8,000, and the sale is regarded as a good one. The Bank of New Tacoma will continue business in its present quarters, and it is probable that Wells, Fargo & Co.'s express will move to the building now occupied by the Tacoma National Bank, on the corner of Pacific Avenue and Ninth Street.
“Less than three years ago Mr. Baker purchased this lot and that adjoining for $1,000.”
Tacoma's 1883 land boom—where a lot could multiply in value in three years—foreshadowed the speculative cycles that have repeatedly reshaped Puget Sound real estate. The same questions about who profits from growth, and who gets priced out, remain central to Tacoma and Seattle today.
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