Tacoma Urbanist
Mar. 6, 2008 at 12:52am
New Downtown Wave: Martial Arts, Dentist, Antiques
Get three Tacomans together and it will not be long before someone asks :What should downtown be? What is and/or should the identity of the city be?
Rather than blogging and pontificating about it, a new wave of urban pioneers are making the plunge downtown on Broadway within a few storefronts of each other.
New Martial Arts Studio 742 Broadway
Train With A Champion
Train Like a Champion
Train to Be a Champion
(Who am I to doubt them?)
Here's where an old antique shop used to be:
It took me a couple of minutes before I realized the guy giving the tour was an ultra fighting champion. Hence, I tried to be extra friendly. Check out the belts he won. He has his own poster. Unfortunately, I forgot his name.
I spoke to the owner and took a tour. They have an established client base and were located in University Place.
Here's what they say about their move:
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If you haven't heard we have been very blessed to be able to open a new and much larger location. We have more than tripled our square footage and size and we welcome back the return of our ring (it was very missed). There is much more space to accomodate our ever growing student/team base. We are also going to be adding a half cage for our brazilian jujitsu/mma program. Our grand opening is Monday March 3rd. |
Comment: they are going to add a fighting cage? Oh my.
Check out their web site. Pretty fancy for what they do.
"Our school has provided instruction in traditional Muay Thai since 1997."
www.chaisaimuaythai.com/
Here is their fight web site.
http://www.chaisaimuaythai.com/fight2.html
Wild. Its laid out in a American Gladiator format. They even have post fight recaps.
Apparently 80 percent of their business is classes. The other 20 percent is training people for competitions.
Check these out. These folks are serious: (from their web site)
They train co ed.
New Dental Office:
Jamie Brooks, DDS, Large dental office in the Gintz Building
This is a large commercial condo that was bought from the Gintz Group. A lot of working going in here. They are almost done (yes, health care services downtown).
Don't count antiques out yet, there is one opening up by the Winthrop Hotel where the rug shop was:
Commentary:
Its hard to know what is going to be successful downtown. Who would have thought a few years ago it was going to be cupcakes, cartoons, tanning and hair salons?
The identify of Tacoma will be what people want to make of it and with so many empty storefronts available at a fraction of what they cost in a larger city there is still time to make your mark. Microwinery? Independent Theater?
As Tacoma works to re-occupy its downtown, being able to use space more efficiently may be the factor which separates out those who succeed from those who flounder.
 by Twisty on 3/6/2008 @ 5:22am | A fight club and a dental office... there is potentially some synergy there, no? |
 by intacoma on 3/6/2008 @ 7:31am | there are about 3 interior design places that are opening up as well |
 by thriceallamerican on 3/6/2008 @ 9:38am | Gintz Building? Where's that? |
by thriceallamerican on 3/6/2008 @ 9:39am | (Aside: I googled "Jamie Brooks"...apparently there is a porn star with that name...) |
 by CA on 3/6/2008 @ 10:48am | Right on. Broadway is perhaps the most untilized street in downtown for commerce. I would have REALLY liked to see the Broadway Speakeasy go into the Mecca building, but oh well. At this point in time it looks highly unlikely a big name retailer is going to move in downtown, so we're gonna have to do it with small independent businesses. Kickboxers, dentists, and international investment firms that begin with the letter R. We need them all. |
by thriceallamerican on 3/6/2008 @ 11:33am | Huh, I always thought Commerce, ironically, was one of the most underutilized streets for commerce... |
 by Erik on 3/6/2008 @ 11:35am | I would have REALLY liked to see the Broadway Speakeasy go into the Mecca building, but oh well. Me too. Two restaurants will go in soon though. The Italian one where Vin Grotto was and Maxwells. Gintz Building? Where's that? 732 Broadway. www.gintzgroup.com/about.htm A fight club and a dental office... there is potentially some synergy there, no? Its funny how unrelated they are in use. I think that's a good thing though. Parking One cool thing is that the martial arts studio has classes after 4 or 5 which evens out the demand some. |
by Twisty on 3/6/2008 @ 1:10pm | Unrelated? You don't think any of the fight club's patrons are potential dental clients??? I think it's a natural symbiosis, myself. |
 by AP on 3/7/2008 @ 1:46am | Check out their web site. Pretty fancy for what they do.
Actually, this may be the fanciest web site I've ever seen. |
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A ongoing conversation to make Tacoma a better to live and work through better urban design.
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-Erik B.
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