A cold storage and food processing facility that its developer estimates will create 400 jobs paying $43 million in annual wages won Port of Tacoma Commission approval for a 50-year ground lease on the Tideflats.

The commission voted Tuesday, June 16, to lease a 30-acre site between Taylor Way and Alexander Avenue on the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula to Saxum Investment Company, LLC, a Summit, New Jersey-based developer that specializes in cold storage logistics.

Subject to final design, Saxum estimates it will invest up to $250 million in the project.

"When we talk about supporting family wage jobs, this is exactly what we mean," Port Commission President Dick Marzano said. "We thank Saxum for committing to grow the workforce in Pierce County and for recognizing the Port of Tacoma as a great place to do business."

The job and wage figures come from the developer's own estimates, according to the Port's announcement. No specific tenant or operator has been named for the facility.

The lease won't begin until the Port finishes cleaning up legacy contamination on the site, work expected to wrap by the end of 2026. Construction would then take an estimated 24 months, putting the facility's opening around late 2028 or early 2029.

The Port owns roughly half of the 5,000 acres that make up the Tideflats and has remediated more than 1,100 acres of historically contaminated land to date, according to port records.

The project is the first major private industrial development on the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula since Tacoma City Council adopted the Tideflats Subarea Plan on December 2, 2025, a seven-year planning effort involving the Port, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the City of Fife, and Pierce County.

Marzano served on the multi-governmental steering committee that developed that plan.

Matthew Wassel, a principal at Saxum Real Estate, said the firm has been focused on the Tacoma market for several years. As of December 2023 company disclosures, Saxum's national portfolio included more than 2 million square feet of cold storage across facilities in Texas, Florida, South Carolina, and other states.

The planned facility will have direct access to port facilities, rail freight service, and major road corridors, according to the Port. No building square footage has been disclosed. The lease's financial terms to the Port were also not made public.

Port Executive Director Eric Johnson said the project aligns site cleanup with job creation.