Steel and pilings shrink Juneau's Oak Landing to a third its size

Hoonah Totem Corporation is scaling its Oak Landing development in Juneau down to about a third of its approved size, blaming a steep run-up in steel prices and the ground it has to build on.

Kathy Bell told the Juneau Assembly on Monday that steel ran roughly $620 a ton in August 2023 and has since climbed past $1,100. On top of that, geotechnical work found the upland site would need 100-foot pilings — which made the planned underground parking garage unworkable. The building drops from an approved 50,000 square feet to about 18,000.

To hold costs, the design pulls back toward the existing lot instead of reaching out over the water, where pilings ran especially expensive. Parking moves from underground to at-grade. The corporation is aiming to keep the whole project at $150 million — the figure it started with, before legal appeals and delays drove the numbers up.

The public-facing pieces survive the cut. The revised plan keeps the welcome center, waterfront retail and dining, a cultural center, and the seawalk that the Planning Commission originally approved. Bell said it still honors the five-ship limit and would add shore power to reduce ship emissions.

Before anything moves, the project needs an amendment to its conditional use permit; only then can the Assembly amend the tideland lease. A public pre-application conference with the city is set for this week.