Áak'w Landing shrinks to one-third its planned size as costs surge past $250 million

Huna Totem Corporation has cut the planned building at Áak'w Landing to roughly one-third its original size after construction costs surged from $150 million in 2023 to more than $250 million, according to documents prepared for the Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole, which is scheduled to receive a project update Monday.

The revised plan calls for an 18,000-square-foot single-story structure, down from a multi-story building of up to 50,000 square feet. Project update documents cite three main factors behind the cost increase: delays from a legal appeal of the 2023 Conditional Use Permit, resolved in June 2024; new tariffs on steel and other materials; and geotechnical analysis that made the original upland design prohibitive.

Huna Totem is an Alaska Native village corporation based in Hoonah. It owns and operates Icy Strait Point and holds the tidelands lease the Juneau Assembly signed for Áak'w Landing in February 2024. The corporation has said the project is privately funded on private land and requires no tax abatements, variances, or parking exceptions.

Despite the smaller footprint, the revised plan retains all previously approved uses: a welcome center, retail space, restaurant, cultural center, public park, seawalk extension, and bus staging. The redesign also includes several specific site-plan changes: above-ground parking replaces the originally planned underground parking, the seawalk and plaza will be built on land rather than on decked-over pilings, and the dock alignment has been adjusted based on input from the U.S. Coast Guard and the City and Borough of Juneau. The project keeps its public-benefit conditions, including a five-ship cruise limit, street-level pedestrian access, and a shore power requirement. Under that requirement, large cruise ships must use shore power within 24 months after an appropriately sized power line is within 25 feet of the property line.

What Comes Next

The redesign requires a modification to the 2023 Conditional Use Permit. That modification must first go before the City and Borough of Juneau Planning Commission, which has not yet scheduled a public hearing on it. Staff will bring a conforming lease amendment before the Assembly only if the Planning Commission approves the modification. The amendment would update only the permit file reference in the lease, with no change to rent, term, or lease area.

The July 13 Committee of the Whole memo is informational and requires no Assembly action. The worksession Monday takes no public testimony. The Planning Commission step, which comes first, is where the public record on the permit modification will be built.