A Home-Senate committee of the Alaska Legislature has accepted spending $6.6 million to renovate a downtown Juneau workplace constructing into 33 flats for legislators and workers.
Throughout a vote on the proposal on Dec. 19, lawmakers mentioned the state-owned constructing will assist alleviate a continual scarcity of housing within the capital metropolis in the course of the legislative session.
“One of many largest challenges we have now is housing,” mentioned Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka.
“I believe that is the proper transfer,” he mentioned.
The price of development can also be being sponsored by a Juneau-based basis whose objective, a minimum of partially, is to maintain Juneau because the state capital.
The Meeting Constructing, in-built 1932, would be the Legislature’s new residence constructing. Situated kitty-corner to the Capitol, it was initially constructed as an residence complicated however was transformed into workplaces within the Nineteen Eighties.
Renovations are anticipated to take a minimal of 1 yr, with a tentative completion date in January 2024. It isn’t but clear how the constructing will probably be managed, who will probably be allowed to lease house, or whether or not legislators will forgo their per diem expense funds if they’ve a state-owned residence.
In 2022, legislators have been eligible for $307 per legislative day to cowl meals, housing and different bills in the course of the legislative session. These funds got here atop their annual wage of $50,400.
The 9-2 vote by the Legislative Council to maneuver forward with the residence plan handed with Republicans, Democrats and independents voting in assist.
Republican Rep. Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, and Sen. Mike Bathe, R-Wasilla, voted towards it.
“I actually am not a fan of the Legislature being within the enterprise of being a landlord and competing with the non-public sector,” Tilton mentioned.
Bathe mentioned he’s nervous in regards to the challenge’s rising prices. In February, the Legislative Council voted 9-5 in favor of a $5.5 million plan primarily based on preliminary estimates. The ultimate contract, with Dawson Development, is value nearly $8.6 million.
The Juneau Neighborhood Basis, which purchased the constructing in 2021 and donated it to the Legislature without charge, can also be donating $2 million to pay for a part of the constructing’s renovation, reducing the Legislature’s share to the $6.6 million accepted this week.
“Juneau advantages by being the capital metropolis. It fills our eating places, it brings in folks,” mentioned Amy Skilbred, govt director of the $70 million basis.
In 2014, the rich proprietor of Juneau’s electrical firm, Alaska Electrical Mild and Energy, bought the enterprise and donated a lot of the proceeds to the muse. One of many circumstances of that donation was the creation of the Juneau Capitol Fund, which is meant to assist the Capitol so long as it stays in Juneau.
Skilbred mentioned buying the Meeting Constructing is according to the fund’s targets.
Legislators and workers have discovered it tough to search out housing, she mentioned, as a result of vacationer season begins in Could, compressing the marketplace for short-term leases on the finish of the legislative session.
The issues are exacerbated if the Legislature calls particular periods in the summertime.
“When they’re referred to as again, it’s laborious to search out housing each throughout and after session,” Skilbred mentioned.
Garrett Schoenberger, a Juneau actual property agent and developer, mentioned the worth of the renovation is “excessive, nevertheless it’s not shocking.”
“I’d say that’s most likely according to simply the craziness of right this moment’s development pricing,” he mentioned.
Plans printed in February name for 15 one-bedroom flats and 18 studio flats with a standard laundry on every flooring.
Juneau, like most of Alaska’s cities and cities, is experiencing a extreme housing scarcity, and the town’s downtown has numerous business buildings with disused upper-floor flats.
Schoenberger mentioned renovating the Meeting Constructing is “a web achieve for our neighborhood” and mentioned he hopes it is going to encourage others to take related motion.
“It’s a welcomed addition,” he mentioned.
Initially printed by the Alaska Beacon, an impartial, nonpartisan information group that covers Alaska state authorities.