Kodiak council moves toward leasing historic Griffin building to two museums

The Kodiak City Council agreed at a Sept. 8 work session at the Kodiak Public Library not to advance a purchase application for the Griffin Memorial Hospital building at 316 Mission Road. Staff will instead pursue a joint lease application from the Kodiak Historical Society and Kodiak Maritime Museum. Terms remain unsettled.

Interim City Manager Tim Putney said the Griffin Memorial Hospital was built in 1937 and functioned as Kodiak's first hospital. The state vacated it in March 2022 and transferred ownership to the city in 2023. The clerk received the church's purchase application May 10 and the museums' lease application May 26. A 45-day notice period closed Aug. 3 with no other applications.

Kodiak Maritime Museum Executive Director Toby Sullivan raised the idea in December 2024. "The History Museum needs collection storage space, and the Maritime Museum needs both storage and exhibit space," he said. The building could house the Alitak Cannery Collection, which Silver Bay Seafoods and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation would release under agreeable lease terms. Sullivan said the Rasmuson Foundation "would consider a funding application from the two museums to do necessary upgrades to the Griffin Building if the museums had an appropriate lease agreement with the city."

Gail Armstrong, speaking for Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, said: "At one time we actually owned the property under the Griffin Building, so historically it'd just be returning to the parish, something that we sadly were forced to sell in the 1930s. We are desperately short of space." She asked to be considered if the city chose a sale, and said the church would work cooperatively with the museums.

Several council members wanted the city to keep ownership, citing historic value and public access. Council Member Sandra West opposed a sale and asked to postpone the decision. She questioned maintenance costs under a lease and favored using the building for City Hall, noting the city pays more than $200,000 a year in rent elsewhere. One member put renovation costs at about $5 million. Council Member Nick Mangini faulted the city's disposal process: "This is 2 meetings in a row that we're saying that we're not interested in selling something and I just think it brings up that bigger issue."