Anchorage officials pitch Assembly on Block 102-Tozier land swap for housing

A land swap could clear the way for housing on two Anchorage sites, but the item before the Assembly Friday approves only the exchange itself, not zoning changes or a development deal.

Municipal and Anchorage Community Development Authority officials pitched the trade at a Friday Assembly work session: the 9.6-acre former Tozier Track, a Heritage Land Bank parcel in Midtown, for four Alaska Housing Finance Corporation lots on downtown's Block 102. Officials have discussed the exchange since at least 2022.

Bob Dole, the municipality's community and economic development director, said the pending item does one thing. "We are not here for changing the comp plan. We are not here for rezoning. We are not here to approve a development agreement or a lot of other things that will be sussed out before you see a single shovel full of dirt moved on these properties."

Mike Robbins, executive director of the Anchorage Community Development Authority, said the trade would put housing on both sites: mixed-use and workforce housing downtown, housing on the Midtown tract. "The Block 102 former Tozier tract presents a two-for-one housing opportunity," he said.

An email outage left some Assembly members without the invitation, and the item's introduction appears on the addendum. No public testimony was taken.