Juneau Assembly to weigh $1.5M negotiated sale of City Hall to Sealaska Heritage Institute

Juneau's City Hall could transfer to Sealaska Heritage Institute for $1.5 million under an ordinance the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly is set to introduce at its July 27 meeting, $1 million below the $2.5 million minimum the borough originally sought.

The gap reflects months of Assembly deliberation over how to dispose of the downtown property at 155 Heritage Way. At its March 16 Committee of the Whole meeting, the Assembly reviewed options for selling City Hall and moved an earlier ordinance, 2026-15, to put the building up for sale to the highest bidder at a $2.5 million minimum. That measure went to a public hearing in April and drew no testimony. The Assembly took the question up again at its July 13 Committee of the Whole meeting, and in response to that discussion Sealaska Heritage Institute offered to buy the property through a negotiated sale for $1.5 million. The committee then passed a motion to introduce the negotiated-sale ordinance.

Both the original competitive-bid ordinance and the new negotiated-sale ordinance are scheduled for public hearing at the next regular Assembly meeting after July 27, when the new ordinance is introduced.

Sealaska Heritage Institute's Walter Soboleff Building sits at 105 Heritage Way, next to City Hall at 155 Heritage Way. The institute's stated mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. City Hall stands on Tlingit land, which the Assembly acknowledges at the opening of each meeting.

Residents who want to weigh in on either the negotiated sale or the original competitive-bid ordinance can do so at the public hearing scheduled for the next regular Assembly meeting after July 27.