Juneau weighs selling City Hall for top dollar — or for less, to Sealaska

Juneau has to decide what its old City Hall is worth more as — money or community space — and on Monday the Assembly declined to choose, advancing both options so the public can weigh in before it commits.

Mayor Beth Weldon pushed the two-track approach: "we'll see what the public says," she said. One path auctions the building to the highest bidder, with a $2.5 million floor.

The other sells it, without a bidding war, to Sealaska Heritage Institute for $1.5 million and year-round community use.

The two goals pull against each other, and members said so plainly. "When weighing maximum value versus year-round, we're not going to be able to get both," Assembly Member Christine Woll said, dismissing the hope that some buyer will "come out of the woodwork and give us both."

Member Neil Steininger put a price on the choice: whatever the gap between the top bid and SHI's $1.5 million, he said, that difference is "effectively kind of like we're spending money on a grant to SHI."

How much the building would actually fetch is an open question.

City Manager Katie Koester said no other buyers have come forward, and warned against running a sealed bid as a "fishing expedition" the Assembly isn't prepared to honor.

Both ordinances head to introduction July 27, with a public hearing in August.