Juneau committee directs staff to apply unrequested $6 million state grant to downtown Seawalk

Assembly panel directs $6 million toward Seawalk Phase 1

Juneau's Assembly Public Works and Facilities Committee directed staff Monday, Aug. 31, to apply a $6 million state allocation the city never requested to the downtown Seawalk. With about $15 million already in the city's capital improvement program, the grant would cover Phase 1 without a revenue bond or a transfer from another capital project.

Assembly Member Nano Brooks moved that staff submit the project to the state for the commercial passenger vessel excise tax funds to be allocated. The motion passed.

Visitor Industry Director Alexandra Pierce said the Alaska State Legislature allocated Juneau $6 million this year. The city did not request it, she said, but is grateful for it. The Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development requires an application naming a project, and staff chose the Seawalk as the most emergent candidate. Its south end must be built at the same time as the Petro Marine project, using the same contractor.

Pierce said the existing $15 million carries design to 100%. At 65% design, Phase 1 construction is budgeted at $15,477,264. A $4.5 million mooring dolphin will be built alongside it, replacing one the city must remove to construct the Seawalk.

Phase 1 and the dolphin are planned for spring 2027, with a seasonal break before Phase 2 starts that fall. Staff expect both phases together to take about 24 months. Pierce said congestion should ease significantly as more visitors walk into downtown.

Brooks asked what staff would do if the state denied the application. Pierce said they would go back to the drawing board, but she has been in contact with the state and has no concerns it will be accepted.

Assembly Member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs asked whether Phase 1 would leave Phase 2 unfunded. Pierce said design money for Phase 2 already exists, and a revenue bond conversation is expected at the November Assembly Finance Committee meeting.

Alaska News previously covered the city's application to extend the Seawalk from Franklin Dock to AJ Dock, described in the state water quality notice as a pile-supported walkway and cruise ship mooring dolphin with catwalks. The project would remove 80 existing piles and install 238 new steel piles, with work windowed between April 2027 and April 2029.