Anchorage Assembly sets Oct. 20 hearing on Chugiak senior housing lease

The Anchorage Assembly will take public testimony Oct. 20 on a fifth extension of a below-market city land lease for Chugiak Senior Citizens Inc., which would give the nonprofit until 2044 to build affordable rental housing next to the Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center.

The Assembly first approved the lease in 2007 for senior rental housing. Under its current terms, the lease ends Oct. 31 if construction is not substantially complete, according to the proposed ordinance. The Assembly sent a third extension to public hearing in February 2020.

The nonprofit plans to work with developer Q2 Partners LLC on about 60 affordable rental units in two phases, according to the administration's memo to the Assembly. The ordinance says Q2 built the most recent new Low Income Housing Tax Credit project in Anchorage. The partners would seek those tax credits through the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, which requires a lease that runs 50 years past the end of construction.

Instead of a single completion deadline, the proposal sets five checkpoints. If any is missed, the lease could end:

• financing by the end of 2028

• platting, land-use approvals and a water service extension by the end of 2030

• permits in hand and construction under way by the end of 2032

• the first phase finished by the end of 2034

• the second phase finished by the end of 2044

If all five are met, the lease would run through 2094. The ordinance would also let the nonprofit offer units that are not restricted to seniors. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance requested the measure as part of her "10,000 Homes in 10 Years" housing strategy.

Chugiak Senior Citizens, founded in 1975, serves people 60 and older in the Chugiak-Eagle River area and runs the senior center on the neighboring parcel.

The hearing begins at 6 pm Oct. 20 in the Assembly Chambers at the Z.J. Loussac Library. Written and phone testimony is due by 5 pm Oct. 19.