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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
Vol. CXXIV, No. 29
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF TACOMA Devoted to the Courts, Real Estate, Finance, Industrial Activities, and Publication of Legal Notices
Published Published Since Since 1890 1890
Sun King In Storage
It's no castle, but a Tacoma repair shop is home for now Posted online Tues., Feb. 11 Article and Photos By Todd Matthews, Editor The City of Tacoma's Fleet Operations Headquarters is probably the last place you would expect to find a piece of public art. The sprawling, 75,000-square-foot hangar-like structure is where more than two-dozen City employees service and maintain some 1,200 police cars, garbage trucks, fire engines, and electric vehicles. For the past two years or so, however, this building on South Pine Street -- just off busy South 38th Street and next door to Tacoma Police Department Headquarters -- has been home to a threeton, 15-foot-tall, 22-foot-wide steel frame sculpture wrapped in a silicon bronze skin known as "Sun King." The piece was created by Corvallis, Ore., sculptor Tom Morandi nearly forty years ago. It sat near the corner of Broadway and South 13th Street for three decades before it was placed in storage seven years ago to make way for a new piece of public art (see "Sun King Dethroned: Can Tacoma ever appreciate this piece of public art?" Tacoma Daily Index, Feb. 5, 2014; and "A new home for Tacoma's Sun King?" Tacoma Daily Index, Dec. 3, 2013). Two months ago, the City of Tacoma began to accept bids on a $25,000 public works project that would take Sun King out of storage and place it in a park located at South 15th Street and Dock Street, near Thea Foss Waterway. The bid deadline expired on Dec. 19. Five contractors submitted bids. An update on the project is expected this month. Meanwhile, City of Tacoma Arts Administrator Amy McBride and City of Tacoma Fleet Services Manager Fred Chun arranged for a reporter to photograph Sun King in storage. At first glance, the sculpture is much bigger and more imposing than one would gather from old photographs. The tallest and largest of Sun King's three pieces sits upright and towers over adjacent vehicle service bays. The remaining two pieces lie flat on the ground. Several years ago, while Sun King sat in storage, the City of Tacoma restored the piece. That CONTINUED ON responsibility was handPAGE 2
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