Juneau’s City Hall was built in the 1950s. The outside shows peeling paint and rotting window frames. Inside, walls are cracking and a tarp covers a leak that damaged some of the city clerk’s files. A plywood box covers a broken urinal, to keep people from using it.
Looking down at his office carpet, City Manager Rorie Watt said any one repair project would set off several others.
“We can’t replace the carpet without abating it, because there’s asbestos in the mastic that holds the carpet down, so you’d have to tent the building off,” he said. “It becomes this cascading series of things as soon as you start to touch it.”
A block over, the city rents space in the Marine View building with constant plumbing issues. Employees there recently complained to OSHA about the lack of working bathrooms and sinks. Watt said the city and the building’s owner will likely get fined.
“It seems like the water gets shut off almost as frequently as every week,” Watt said.
Watt has recommended that the city include $10 million in next year’s budget for a new city hall. That would reduce the amount of money the city would ask from voters through a bond, if they put one on the ballot this year. Last year, Juneau residents narrowly voted down authorizing the city to borrow up to $35 million for the project.
But maintenance problems are just part of the conversation as the Juneau Assembly resumes discussions on a new city hall.
The city pays $820,000 each year to rent office space. And Watt said having all staff in one building would help the city save money and make it easier for them to work together. It would also make the building a one-stop shop for Juneau residents who want to reach city officials.
Buying another building in Juneau isn’t really an option, according to a real estate consultant the Assembly asked to analyze the market.
Tracey Ricker, a broker with Ricker Real Estate Consulting, outlined her findings in a memo shared with the Assembly Finance Committee. She said the city would need 46,200 square feet. That’s hard to find in the borough, especially downtown.
Most properties that could work for the city have been leased – sometimes to multiple tenants – for at least the next five years. Downtown, many of those tenants are government agencies.
“Even if there was more interest in selling in the market, there would be a huge displacement of State workers with minimal options for relocation,” Ricker wrote.
There are two properties the city could buy, but both have major drawbacks.
The first is Nugget Mall, where renovations would cost at least $7 million, according to Ricker. It would also involve displacing some businesses in the mall, which are on month-to-month leases.
The second is the Capital Office Park building the Alaska Department of Fish and Game uses. Ricker said the building’s owners might be open to selling it, but it wouldn’t be available to the city until 2028. The city would also need to build a new space for Assembly meetings there.
Watt thinks a new city hall would most likely be built on Whittier Avenue near Centennial Hall and the Zach Gordon Youth Center. In the meantime, he’s proposed spending $50,000 to educate the public about the reasons why a new building is needed.
The Assembly will vote on the budget on June 12. If the Assembly decides to put a city hall bond on the ballot this year, it must be introduced by its July 10 meeting.
