Anchorage weighs selling a fire-damaged lot below market to a housing nonprofit

The Anchorage Assembly votes July 7 on selling a fire-damaged Teshlar Drive lot to Cook Inlet Housing Authority for $10,500, below market value, so the nonprofit can clear the ruined house and build an affordable home.

The city says it tried the market first — a sealed-bid sale requiring a multi-unit plan drew no compliant offers, and a well inspection found the small lot could support only three bedrooms anyway.

Once the project shrank to a single-family home, the city took the nonprofit's below-market bid rather than reopening the sale.

If approved, Cook Inlet Housing Authority must demolish within 120 days and build within five years or forfeit the lot — one more home toward the mayor's housing goals, seeing such lots sold in the open.