State would lease airport land at 18 cents a foot until 2076

The state wants to lease nearly two acres at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to a cargo warehouse operator for 18 cents a square foot, and lock that rate in for 50 years.

The deal, opened for public comment Tuesday, would run from October 2026 to September 2076 and rent about 82,700 square feet to Anchorage Logistics RE, LLC for construction and operation of an air cargo warehouse. Annual rent: $14,888.70.

Whether that is a fair price is the live question. The rate matches what the state proposed for its Alaska Cargo and Cold Storage project at the airport, but runs half again above the 12 cents in a Lake Hood lease this spring, though the parcels and permitted uses differ enough that the comparison is rough. Anchorage sits among the top cargo airports in the world, its throughput the reason operators want in.

Supporters of long leases say a half-century term is what gives private investors the confidence to build. Critics say it can bind scarce airport land to a single use for two generations, with no room to adjust if cargo patterns or airport priorities shift by, say, 2050.