Whittier takes first federal money toward tearing down parts of the empty Buckner Building

The Whittier City Council on Tuesday accepted the first $600,000 of a $5 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to tear down parts of the Buckner Building, the six-story former Army building that has sat empty in the middle of town for decades.

None of the first $600,000 goes to demolition. It pays for federal reviews that have to come first: endangered species, tribal, historic preservation and the National Environmental Policy Act. The remaining $4.4 million would go "to clean the building in sections and bring sections of the building down," said Assistant City Manager Shelby Carlson, who manages the grant.

That second phase isn't guaranteed. It depends on congressional appropriations, EPA priorities, the city's progress and its compliance with the grant terms. Carlson wrote that construction work, including demolition, "cannot begin until EPA completes its environmental review and provides the required authorization and additional funding."

The Buckner Building was finished in 1953 as the Army's main living quarters in Whittier. It was built to provide "housing, recreation and medical services to 1,250 Army personnel," the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation says. It was "essentially a city within a 273,660 sq feet structure," with a shooting range, theater, bank, commissary, bowling alley, library and hospital.

It went into private ownership in the 1970s, suffered vandalism and fell into disrepair, according to the department. A 2016 structural assessment found nearly all its windows and doors missing and concluded that it was unlikely any significant portion could be rehabilitated for occupancy. It recommended demolition.

The building and the ground around it are also contaminated. The city describes "extensive asbestos-containing materials" inside, along with lead-based paint, PCBs and petroleum residues. A 2017 study found lead and petroleum in the soil above state cleanup levels and several metals in the groundwater above state limits. It also found asbestos in the soil above EPA action levels, though those soils were later removed, according to DEC's record.

Cleaning it up won't be cheap. The city's 2027-2036 capital plan puts Buckner Building contamination cleanup at about $34.8 million, roughly seven times the grant.

Carlson said U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski secured the $5 million. The city learned of the award in 2024, but the money wasn't released until this year, and the EPA is releasing it in two phases, she said. The EPA awarded the grant Aug. 27. It covers the full $600,000 with no local match.

Every council member called on the roll voted yes, according to the meeting recording. The measure also raises the city's contract with its environmental consultant, NORTECH Inc., by $305,532, to $825,214.

The city must also identify any affected property that is listed on, or eligible for, the National Register of Historic Places, so the EPA can make a historic preservation determination.

The building is already a priority site under a separate EPA brownfields grant the city holds.