Anchorage Assembly takes up Chugiak senior housing lease extension to 2094

An ordinance to extend a below-market city ground lease in Chugiak to 2094 goes to the Anchorage Assembly for introduction Tuesday, Oct. 6, with a public hearing set for Oct. 20. The measure would also lift a construction deadline that would otherwise end the lease this month.

Chugiak Senior Citizens, Inc., a nonprofit serving people 60 and older in Chugiak, Eagle River and Eklutna, holds the ground lease, a long-term lease of city land next to the Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center. The group plans to partner with Q2 Partners LLC on about 60 units built in two phases of roughly 30 units each. The first phase would serve seniors; the ordinance would let the second include renters of any age. A memo on the proposal envisions 80% of units for households at or below 60% of area median income and 20% at market rate.

The lease now runs through Oct. 31, 2076, but it terminates Oct. 31, 2026, if construction is not substantially complete by then.

A 2005 ordinance authorized the city to negotiate the lease for low-income senior housing. This would be the fifth extension. The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation's statewide independent-living list shows the group operating 42 units in Chugiak.

The city says Q2 built the municipality's most recent new project financed with federal low-income housing tax credits. The partners will seek tax-credit funding through the corporation's Greater Opportunities for Affordable Living program, which requires a ground lease running 50 years past completion.

A memo submitted by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance says the competitive GOAL program will "likely take more than one attempt to obtain funding."

The ordinance would replace the single construction deadline with five checkpoints. Missing one could send the land back to the city.

• Financing is due by Dec. 31, 2028.

• Platting, land use approvals and a resolution for water service extension are due by the end of 2030.

• Permits and the start of construction are due by the end of 2032.

• Phase one must be completed, shown by a certificate of occupancy, by the end of 2034.

• Phase two must be completed the same way by the end of 2044, when the 50-year lease term begins.

The administration recommends approval. The memo ties the project to the mayor's "10,000 Homes in 10 Years" strategy and lists no immediate economic impact.

Residents can comment at www.muni.org/testimony or testify at the Oct. 20 hearing.