Bill to give Southcentral Foundation downtown Anchorage clubhouse land reaches president

A bill that would give Southcentral Foundation the downtown Anchorage land under its Quyana Clubhouse, at no cost, reached the president's desk Thursday after passing both chambers of Congress.

The foundation has run the clubhouse on the roughly 3.4-acre federal parcel for years but doesn't own it. Until it does, it can't put up permanent buildings there or borrow money for improvements, according to a Senate committee report. With ownership, the foundation plans to replace and modernize the clubhouse and expand what it offers there.

The Quyana Clubhouse is a day program for Alaska Native adults with severe and persistent mental illness. It combines behavioral health care and primary care with Alaska Native traditions, and the foundation told Congress it's the only program of its kind in the region. The land once held Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offices, which moved to the Alaska Native Medical Center campus in 1994. The Indian Health Service later let the foundation use the empty property and agreed in August 2023 to transfer it.

Under the bill, the foundation would pay nothing, and the federal government would give up any right to take the land back. The bill says the land is for "health and social services programs," but it bars the government from attaching any conditions.

The Indian Health Service supports the transfer but objected to those terms. Darrell LaRoche, a deputy director, told a Senate committee in February that without the right to take the land back, the health department would lose its way to make sure the property stays in health care use. The bill also requires a warranty deed, in which the government guarantees the title is clear. LaRoche said that would leave the department on the hook to clear any claims on the land at any time, "a potential liability of unknown cost."

The government collects no rent on the land now. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the transfer would cost the Indian Health Service less than $500,000 in administrative costs through 2030.

Rep. Nick Begich introduced the bill in May 2025, and the House passed it by voice vote that December. The Senate passed it without objection Sept. 29 on Sen. Lisa Murkowski's motion, according to a delegation press release. Murkowski said in May the transfer would let the foundation "finance capital improvements on the property to expand outpatient programming," Alaska News reported.

As of Saturday, the president hadn't signed it. Once it becomes law, the health secretary has two years to hand over the land.