A year after the Port of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Schools broke ground on the new Maritime Center, the transformation is well underway. 

Contractors are making steady progress on both the Port’s new business center and Maritime|253, a skills center that will serve high school students from across the South Sound, providing career-focused training designed to prepare students for jobs in the trades and maritime industry.

“It was a little over a year ago we had a groundbreaking and we’re already at this level,” said Dick Marzano, Port of Tacoma Commission President. 

Seen clearly from downtown Tacoma and I-705, the design of the Port’s three-story building along the Foss Waterway evokes a modern maritime aesthetic. 

The Port property, once home to the Wheeler Osgood door company mill, underwent significant environmental cleanup, including the removal of hundreds of creosote piles from the adjacent waterway and the remediation of contaminated soils. 

The campus design includes walking paths and public access to the restored shoreline along both the Foss and Wheeler-Osgood Waterways. In 2025, the Maritime Center became the first project in Tacoma to earn a Salmon-Safe designation. 

“We’ve taken a spot in town that was really blighted, frankly, there wasn’t much here, and we’re turning it into a place where the community’s going to be able to come to the waterfront and their kids and grandkids are going to learn about the jobs down here and how they can become a part of that economic partnership,” said Eric Johnson, Port of Tacoma Executive Director. 

The first phase of construction following the January 2025 groundbreaking included the installation of stone columns for seismic reinforcement.  

Next came foundations, utilities, concrete slabs and framing. 

Once the structures began to rise, the pace became even more noticeable.  

Port of Tacoma Director of Engineering Project Management Stan Ryter said it was “mind-blowing” to see the buildings take shape in a matter of weeks. 

“It’s been pedal to the metal,” he said.  

BNBuilders is the general contractor for both buildings, which were designed by TCF Architecture.  

In September, BNBuilders held a “topping out” ceremony for construction workers, when the last steel beam was put into place on the Port building. 

The partnership between the Port and Tacoma Public Schools will help address a shortage of workers entering maritime professions.  

Maritime|253 will provide juniors and seniors handson training in four high-demand pathways: Sustainability, technology, port operations and logistics, and advanced maritime manufacturing.   

Enrollment is now open for students from South Sound school districts, who can attend classes free of charge. 

Maritime|253 will open in Fall 2026, with the Port business center opening in Spring 2027. 

“This is a visible demonstration to the community that Tacoma remains on the map as a global trading hub and is committed to building the workforce of the future,” said Alisa Praskovich, Port of Tacoma Chief of Strategic Projects and Commission Relations. 

With structural work largely complete, the coming months will focus on interior buildout, classroom and lab installation, and other preparations needed for students and Port employees. 

The partnership with the school district reflects the Port of Tacoma’s deepening commitment to workforce development, a focus area added to the Port’s Strategic Plan in 2026. 

“We have a lot of obligations to the community and the citizens we represent, and this is a key component of that,” Marzano said.  

“It’s going to be a legacy for our community long after we’re all gone,” Johnson said.