TACOMA, Wash. — The University of Washington Tacoma is providing rent relief to 19 retail tenants through May 2020 to ease the burden on businesses struggling due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The university is the landlord for 19 retailers on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma. A number of the retailers are small businesses including a clothing boutique called Bleach, a vintage thrift store called UrbanXchange, and a gift shop called Stocklist.
John Crouch, who co-owns Bleach with his wife Julia, said they were forced to close the shop on March 17 after the university shut down the campus and business slowed to a trickle.
“We just weren't seeing any traffic,” explained John Crouch. “Our employees were saying they'd see one or two people in a matter of many hours.”
Bleach quickly expanded its online retail shop, which has seen an outpouring of support from customers who want to support local businesses. But Crouch said he couldn’t help but worry about the future.
“One of the things you go to bed thinking about is how are you going to make it?” he said.
But about a week after closing the brick and mortar store, Crouch said he received an email from the university that read, “The University of Washington, as your landlord, is voluntarily waiving your monthly base rent."
The waiver also includes excise taxes and lease operation costs.
“UW Tacoma has an obligation to do what we can to help jumpstart the Pacific Avenue retail sector once the region begins to emerge from the pandemic… It makes good business sense for us and our tenants,” university spokesman John Burkhardt said in a statement.
Crouch said the university’s waiver could be the difference between his business surviving or succumbing, at least until June.
“We're kind of week to week, month to month,” explained John Crouch. “I guess right now we feel like we have shelter to get us to that point”
According to the university, after May officials will reassess whether to extend the waiver “depending on the situation at the time.”