Huna Totem asks Juneau planners to approve a scaled-down Áak'w Landing uplands plan

Huna Totem Corporation is asking the Juneau Planning Commission to approve a smaller version of the shops, plaza and parking behind its Áak'w Landing cruise ship dock, after the project's costs climbed from $150 million in 2023 to more than $250 million. Commissioners take up the request Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The revised plan cuts retail and related space from up to 50,000 square feet to about 31,000. It drops the underground bus staging and parking approved in 2023 for 38 above-ground spaces, 22 for cars and 16 for buses. The dock itself, permitted separately in 2023, isn't part of the request.

City planning staff recommend approval with no added conditions, according to the staff report. It says the development would accommodate 120,000 passengers who would otherwise disembark in Juneau's congested cruise ship dock area.

In a June memo to city planners, Susan Bell, Huna Totem's vice president for strategic initiatives, blamed the cost increase on three things: a legal appeal filed in August 2023 that held up the project until June 2024, new tariffs on materials such as steel, and geotechnical studies showing the original buildings would need extensive 100-foot pilings.

Huna Totem signed a tideland lease with the city in April and said in July it would scale back.

The first phase, about 15,000 square feet, would hold a welcome center, retail and a restaurant. A later phase would add about 16,000 square feet of cultural center and retail at the corner of Whittier Street and Egan Drive. Huna Totem says construction is slated to begin in summer 2027, with opening projected in 2028.

An updated traffic study by DOWL found the smaller plan cuts the project's traffic impact by 40% in the morning peak and 53% in the evening peak. Juneau Visitor Industry Director Alix Pierce wrote that the changes address the Tourism Office's earlier concerns.

The only public comment included in the staff report came from Karla Hart, who appealed the 2023 permit. She raised concerns about pollution from ships at the dock and asked for at least two months of public notice on such projects. "These projects have community-wide impacts," she wrote.