Thank you for your interest in the Thea Foss Waterway Authority Site 4 mixed-use development. We are pleased to offer this opportunity to invest in a truly unique project that combines a 100-room luxury hotel, spa and 22 condominium units on a premium downtown waterfront site.

Since 2002, a ten-neighborhood region in the heart of downtown Tacoma has been designated a federal "Renewal Community" by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This special designation allows the city to offer a number of incentives to developers. Businesses within the Renewal Community are eligible for several tax deductions, zero percent capital gains, and a wage credit for employees who live and work in the designated area. A multi-family tax exemption allows buyers of new homes to pay taxes only on land value, not property improvements, for the first 10 years of ownership – translating to significant annual savings. The tax abatements and other incentives are attracting many new homebuyers and businesses to Tacoma's downtown core.

A new hotel, spa and condominium project is poised to take full advantage of this inviting development climate. Located near Tacoma's Museum of Glass, Dale Chihuly's famous pedestrian Bridge of Glass, Tacoma's new Convention Center and the new University of Washington Branch Campus, the reclaimed waterfront site offered by the Thea Foss Waterfront Authority represents a very rare opportunity to secure extremely attractively-priced urban property in a prime location. The site's easy access and visibility will be welcomed by business and leisure travelers, and appreciated by residential and retail users alike.

Under my direction, the Inn at the Market, a boutique hotel near Seattle's popular Pike Place Market, has consistently achieved top ratings. This year the Inn at the Market is listed on Travel + Leisure's Top 100 Hotels in the Continental US and Canada, and is in the Top 15 Hotels Worldwide Priced $250 or Less. A similar "niche" hospitality product has all the potential to capture and exceed its market share in Tacoma; I am confident that such a product will provide a very welcome alternative to the several "branded" hotels that currently exist.

The Site 4 development is both timely and unique. It builds into a market that needs additional hotel rooms, the waterfront location can be purchased at an excellent value, and combining hospitality assets with residential uses creates a quality of product that is currently not available in Tacoma. Our team of veteran players has already acquired design approval from Tacoma's Waterfront Authority Design Review Board; it is anticipated that construction of the project will begin in May 2007.