Tacoma area developer Ken Miller learned this week that Sound Transit has demolished the historic Hansen House at 5820 S. Hood St. Built around the turn of the 20th century, it was named after the family of Northern Pacific Railroad worker Daniel Hansen. Miller contends that the home has substantial historic value, and that the demolition was unnecessary and premature. Sound Transit officials have contended in letters to the Tacoma Historical Society and in court that the home’s historic value is marginal at best. Apparently the home’s value was so marginal that the agency didn’t feel the need to tell anyone that they were going to destroy it.



“I never even heard from them. Their idea is that once I gave it possession, they could smash anything they want,” Miller says. “I didn’t go look. I can’t bear to go over there anymore.”



The Hansen House is on the property seized by Sound Transit, which the Weekly Volcano documented in February (“Life Derailed,” Feb. 7, 2008). Not telling the Millers what was planned for their property seems to be a trend — Sound Transit didn’t tell the Millers that it intended to take the property on which the Hansen House sat either.



Miller characterizes the demolition as another insult in a long string of insulting decisions made by the regional transit agency. For the past three years, Miller has spent most of his time trying to hang on to property that Sound Transit says it needs to complete a long-delayed stretch of commuter rail service between Tacoma and Lakewood. Sound Transit used a typical procedure to take Miller’s property — a power granted government entities by the U.S.Constitution known as eminent domain, which allows government agencies to take private property against the will of its owners. Traditionally eminent domain has been used to clear the way for development of military bases, government buildings, roads and rail lines. Miller chose to fight the regional transit agency and lost. The sum awarded to Miller by the courts for the property barely covered legal costs.



The value of the Hansen Home — if it hadn’t been destroyed — is worth exploring, says Miller, if for no other reason than to gauge just how little the agency cares for the concerns of property owners. The former home of Northern Pacific Railroad worker Daniel Hansen was built in the 1890s. The home was occupied by several generations of Hansens until the Millers purchased the property. It is the last home along Northern Pacific tracks in the South Tacoma area — what Miller characterizes as a rich historical tradition in the area.



Tacoma Railcar Society’s Dave Burns spent years working with local and state officials to save the home from the wrecking ball. Plans included refurbishing the home as an interpretive center celebrating Northern Pacific’s contributions to South Tacoma’s history. The home was scheduled to be considered for inclusion on the city’s historic registry in 2004, but Sound Transit officials sent a letter to city officials claiming that the home had no historical value and that Miller was simply hoping to avoid having his land taken by placing the home in protected status.



Miller says he hasn’t attempted to move the house for a couple of reasons — he can’t afford it, and Sound Transit has no use for the property, and no reason to clear it. Sound Transit has years of red tape and construction to wade through before the Miller’s property can even begin to be converted.



“It would have been a real easy move,” said Miller. “I don’t have the $15,000 it would cost, though. I just can’t be putting my hands out there any farther. We are trying to sell some of our real estate to get back on our feet. But there’s no market. It isn’t going well.”