Anchorage asked to add $141,330 to Performing Arts Center heating project

The cost of fixing the heating system at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts would grow about 71% over what the Anchorage Assembly budgeted in May. The Assembly votes Tuesday on adding $141,330 to the project, raising its total appropriation to $341,330. Glycol is the antifreeze in the building's heating loop. The memorandum says the money would fund the construction award and associated project costs, not just the bid.

The Assembly approved the original $200,000 on May 12 through AR 2026-124. The Purchasing Department opened bids on July 21 under Invitation to Bid 2026C032. The lowest bid exceeded the amount appropriated, according to the resolution. Municipal bid records list a low bid of $262,562. The municipality had advertised an estimated value range of $120,000 to $350,000. Neither the resolution nor the memorandum names the bidder.

The glycol funding is one piece of a $243,330 request drawn from the center's capital reserve, which is funded by 10% of gross revenues under the management agreement. The package also sets aside $52,000 to scope the building's gutters and design a replacement for a failed heat trace system, the electric cable that keeps gutters from icing, plus $50,000 to begin designing a replacement for the deteriorating boiler stack.

Approval would raise the center's 2026 capital improvement budget from $3,421,050 to $3,664,380. The capital budget describes the downtown building as now more than 30 years old.

In a February 2025 letter to the community, Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. wrote that it "has been unable to secure funding necessary to maintain the building," leaving deferred maintenance "threatening not only the building's future, but all the organizations that call it home." The organization paused Broadway Alaska programming through the 2025-2026 season, including a scheduled run of Disney's The Lion King, citing infrastructure and life-safety needs. That season has since ended. Broadway Alaska's website lists no 2026-2027 season and no rescheduled run.

The Assembly can alter the general government capital budget by majority vote. The request sits on Tuesday's consent agenda, which the Assembly's rules do not require to be set for public hearing. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted it.