A rapidly growing Lakewood-based contractor, John Korsmo Construction Inc., will move its headquarters to a renovated building on the east side of downtown Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway early next year.

The building, formerly a warehouse structure that was part of the former Pick’s Cove Marina, will contain some 30,000 square feet of office and warehouse space on two floors.

Construction began last month on the $2.4 million remodeling project on East D Street just north of the waterway’s Highway 509 bridge.

The company’s president, John Korsmo Jr., said Thursday that the new headquarters will house about 25 employees from his company as well as workers with Neil Walter Co., which is also moving its offices to the building. Neil Walter Co. is a commercial real estate services provider.

Korsmo will occupy about 10,000 square feet of space in the structure, now called the Foss Landing Building. The real estate company will use about 8,000 square feet for its offices, and a marina office will occupy about 1,000 square feet of the building, said Mike Hickey, principal in the Neil Walter Co. The remaining 11,000 square feet will be available for lease.

The office structure will bring some needed balance to the mix of buildings occupying waterside lots along the renewed industrial waterway. The Foss’ west side now is home to two major residential buildings, Thea’s Landing and Alber’s Mill, as well as the Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art. Those buildings contain retail space occupied by galleries and small merchants as well as by restaurants. Two more buildings planned for the Foss are a 176-unit condominium, The Esplanade, and a boutique hotel and high-end condo development being planned for a plot between The Esplanade and Thea’s Landing.

The Korsmo construction company’s rapid growth – revenues have doubled to $50 million annually in just four years – necessitated the move to new quarters. The company’s present home, a converted residence on Gravelly Lake Drive, has less than half the office area that Korsmo will have in the renovated building.

Korsmo said he looked for a suitable building in the Lakewood area for several months and missed several opportunities to buy one because the buildings were sold quickly.

His search for a new headquarters in collaboration with Neil Walter Co. broadened to Tacoma when the former marina building became available. He and several partners bought the structure.

“We are historically attached to Lakewood, so it has made for an emotional decision,” he said.

The building will give Korsmo room to expand and a higher visibility, he said.

The renovated building will feature expansive windows facing the Foss with a panoramic view of the downtown Tacoma skyline.

Neil Walter Co. also needed more room, said Hickey. The company now has about 4,000 square feet on the first floor of the Columbia Bank Building downtown. It will lease that space to Columbia Bank once it makes the move to the Foss.

“We are severely cramped in our present quarters,” said Hickey. “We think that our new building will have the best views of downtown Tacoma.” The view from buildings on the Foss’ west side are toward the Port of Tacoma.

The construction company president said the company’s new offices will be more accessible for clients throughout the Puget Sound area. Korsmo’s average project has gotten much larger in recent years, and the company has moved aggressively into privately financed building projects to balance its construction activity in public buildings.

The company, established in Parkland in the late 1940s by Korsmo’s father and two uncles, started building homes but quickly moved to public projects such as buildings on Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base.

Korsmo recently completed construction of an Issaquah elementary school. It is building a hotel at the Little Creek Casino near Shelton and is renovating the Paradise Inn on Mount Rainier among other projects.

John Gillie: 253-597-8663

john.gillie@thenewstribune.com