Port of Tacoma Approves Cold-Storage Lease With Up to 400 Jobs

The Port of Tacoma approved a lease for a new cold-storage facility on the Tacoma waterfront, a project the port said could support as many as 400 jobs.

The action was included in the Port of Tacoma’s July 2026 Working Waterfront update, published July 1. The announcement does not identify the facility’s tenant, investment amount, exact site or construction schedule.

A potential expansion of port logistics

Cold-storage facilities are used to handle goods that must remain refrigerated or frozen during storage and transportation. The port said the proposed facility would expand port-related logistics capacity and could strengthen Tacoma’s food and cargo-handling economy.

The employment figure is a potential estimate, not a count of jobs already created. The port said the facility could support up to 400 jobs, but its update did not provide a hiring timeline or explain when construction or operations might begin.

That leaves the lease approval as the confirmed development at this point. More specific information about the project will require a lease document or a later announcement from the port.

Part of broader waterfront development

The cold-storage lease was one of several waterfront developments highlighted in the port’s July update. The Port of Tacoma also said a new dock is planned for the Maritime Center and referred to continued development across the waterfront.

The update did not say that the cold-storage project and the planned Maritime Center dock are part of the same construction effort. They were presented together as separate elements of ongoing waterfront activity.

For Tacoma, the significance of the lease is tied to both employment potential and the role of port infrastructure in the local economy. A cold-storage operation could add capacity for cargo that requires temperature-controlled handling, while the projected job total would make the facility a notable potential employer on the waterfront.

Existing economic context

The port’s 2026 State of the Port material provides a broader measure of the industry’s regional reach. It said Port of Tacoma and South Harbor cargo operations previously supported more than 41,000 regional jobs.

That figure is separate from the cold-storage project’s estimate. It describes regional employment supported by port-related activities and South Harbor cargo operations, rather than jobs at the new facility.

The port’s materials also place the lease within a wider discussion of port development, workforce and transportation projects in Tacoma. The cold-storage facility’s final employment impact, however, remains unknown because the port has not released the tenant, construction schedule or investment details.

What happens next

The lease approval is the latest confirmed step. The port has not announced an opening date, a construction start date or a final job count.

Until those details are released, the project should be understood as a waterfront development with the potential to support up to 400 jobs—not as an operating facility or a completed employment expansion.