Tacoma crash leaves UW Tacoma campus, over dozen businesses without power for nearly a week

Over a dozen businesses on one block of downtown Tacoma have been without power for nearly a week after a wreck caused a power outage on UW Tacoma’s campus.

Tacoma police said a driver was speeding when the vehicle slammed into poles and a power transformer on South 21st Street Saturday before 7 a.m.

A witness told officers the driver was speeding more than 100 miles per hour, police said.

The driver died at the scene, detectives said.

As of Thursday, it’s not clear if alcohol or drugs were involved.

A spokesperson for UW Tacoma told KIRO 7 News that the university manages all of the power for its campus and nearby businesses.

Officials added that the university owns the buildings along a stretch of Pacific Avenue between S 21st Street and S 17th Street, which are home to at least 20 businesses.

KIRO 7 News counted 19 businesses that were closed on this section of the road Thursday afternoon, and many showed closure signs on the front windows due to the power outage.

UW officials said there is no timeline for when the power will return, but tenants are expected to receive an update on Monday.

“The not knowing is really scary,” said AnnaLee Zenkner, executive wine officer of Water from Wine. “It’s reminiscent of COVID times. We don’t know what’s happening. We don’t know how long it’s going to take. We’re creating new hustles so that we can just bring in something.”

Despite the uncertainty, Zenkner said she is keeping her workers on the payroll since many are living paycheck to paycheck, but the business is struggling due to the lack of customers.

“I don’t want to lose employees because of this so we’re trying to find ways to keep them busy and keep them paid,” she said. “Some have just graduated college and trying to pick up whatever work they can get.”

While a number of businesses are hurting due to the temporary closures, a business owner said he believes the university is doing its best to help.

“I believe everybody is working really hard on it trying to figure it out,” said Michael Gronkin, co-owner of Zeeks Pizza.

UW Tacoma officials said they were working with a team of contractors and designers on Thursday to plan the next steps in repairing the damage.

Officials are looking for parts and testing equipment to help complete the project, they added.

A UW Tacoma spokesperson shared the following statement:

“We have communicated to businesses regularly although we do not yet have a clear timeline. We understand and share the urgency and we are working toward a resolution as soon as possible. Tenants were contacted by email three times on Saturday, following the accident and outage, and specific calls were made to food service tenants on Saturday. On Sunday, all tenants were contacted again, when they were informed that campus would continue suspended in-person operations through July 13 and also that we did not have an estimated time for the restoration of power. Questions from tenants have also been fielded since.

On Tuesday we provided an additional update to tenants, noting they would expect to hear more. Finally, Wednesday we provided an additional update to our tenants and our campus community to let them know that remote operations will continue through the end of next week, which includes the end of the first summer session and beginning of the next. A team is working diligently and quickly to build a project scope and timeline this week that will give us a better idea of the duration of the disruption.

Summer term A will continue to be taught remotely through the end of finals. Students beginning Summer term B on July 18 will begin the term remotely.”

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