Juneau Assembly advances two City Hall sale paths to public hearing

The Juneau Assembly on Monday advanced two competing paths for selling City Hall. It moved an existing sealed-bid ordinance forward with a $2.5 million minimum and directed staff to draft and introduce a new ordinance authorizing a negotiated sale to Sealaska Heritage Institute for $1.5 million. Mayor Beth Weldon framed the approach as a way to let the public weigh in before the Assembly commits to either path.

"My intent is to move two ordinances to the full assembly, one with an authorization of a sale, sealed competitive bid, and one for a negotiated sale, and we'll see what the public says," Weldon said.

Maximum revenue vs. community use

The Assembly debated whether maximum sale revenue or year-round community use should drive the decision. Assembly Member Christine Woll said the two goals are not compatible. "I think when weighing maximum value versus year-round, we're not going to be able to get both," she said. "I think people maybe have a pie-in-the-sky idea that someone's going to come out of the woodwork and give us both."

Assembly Member Neil Steininger framed any gap between a sealed-bid price and the $1.5 million SHI offer as a public cost. "You can almost kind of think of the difference between what we get in sales price and the $1.5 million that SHI has offered us, whether that's $1 million, or maybe somebody bids $10 million, but the difference is effectively kind of like we're spending money on a grant to SHI," he said.

Bid floor and market interest

A motion to raise the sealed-bid floor from $2.5 million to $5 million failed on a 4-4 tie. City Manager Katie Koester cautioned the Assembly against using a sealed bid as a market test without being prepared to follow through. "I just would caution using this as a fishing expedition without parameters that you're willing to stick to," she said. Asked whether she or other city staff had received interest from other businesses or community groups in buying City Hall, Koester said she had not.

Both ordinances are set for introduction at the July 27 Assembly meeting, with a public hearing at the August meeting on the same schedule.