The Big Timber Motel -- a 23-room motel and former strip club -- has a new owner after being seized by the Municipality of Anchorage in December for failure to pay property taxes.
When the municipality took over ownership of the property -- located on Fifth Avenue near downtown Anchorage, across from Merrill Field -- the motel was discovered to have no heat or working sprinklers, along with reported infestations of bedbugs and mice. The municipality spent thousands of dollars replacing one of the building's boilers and bringing it into compliance with fire code. It has been working for months to find new homes for 23 people who live there, mostly low-income and fixed-income residents.
Lindsey Whitt, spokesperson for Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, said at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sabrina and Robert Alexander showed up at City Hall with a quitclaim deed allowing them to pay off the $34,869 in unpaid property taxes and reimburse the municipality for the $46,810 in work it has already done on the building.
Terry Stahlman, the building's former owner, said he racked up unpaid property taxes over the course of three years because of bad health. Stahlman denied city reports that his building was infested with mice and rats.
"Voles. We have voles -- not rats or mice," Stahlman said Wednesday afternoon.
Despite having sold the property to the Alexanders -- Stahlman declined to say how much money the couple paid him for the property in excess of what was owed to the city -- he said he will remain at the motel and oversee its management and repairs for at least a year.
"They (the Alexanders) are going to put a lot of money into upgrading the building," Stahlman said.
Robert Alexander is listed as the owner of Bingo South -- a bingo and pull-tab hall -- and the S Lounge, a local nightclub and restaurant. Attempts to contact him for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Contact Sean Doogan at sean(at)alaskadispatch.com.