The Fang family's application for a tax break to demolish the 4th Avenue Theatre, our city's most important historic building, is outrageous, and the reasons given in Alaska Dispatch News' April 24 report are dishonest.
I write with authority on this. When I was on the Assembly in the 1990s, I sponsored the ordinance (which has been amended since) that allows the city to give 10-year tax breaks for deteriorated property that is redeveloped. In this centennial year, I am also author of the official history of Anchorage, just released by the city.
The Assembly has been asked, in our centennial year, to pass an ordinance that would declare property between Fourth and Fifth avenues deteriorated and grant a tax break to tear down our best historic building.
The 4th Avenue Theatre, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is an art deco gem built by Cap Lathrop in 1947 (as highlighted on the city's centennial website, anchoragecentennnial.org). Lathrop was a coal miner and Alaska's first business magnate. By building a concrete movie palace on the city's main street, he made an unprecedented vote of confidence in Anchorage's future.
The theater was a landmark and source of pride for generations. Alaskans wondered at the auditorium of this spectacular building, which had the stars of the big dipper glittering on the ceiling and vast friezes (not murals, as they are described in the article) telling the story of Alaska's growth and optimistic future.
When the theater went downhill, we failed as a community to save it. There's plenty of blame to go around. But when the Fang family bought the building in 2009, they should have known they bought a responsibility for Anchorage's past.
The building is surely in bad shape. But any tax break should go toward fixing it, not, as the article says, to "integrate" it into a mall and hotel by saving portions of the lobby woodwork and doing away with the rest. Surely a creative architect could find a way to make the theater work in the Fang family's vast plans, which include a 28-story high-rise. That would be fair compensation for the huge gift of tax money the development would receive for the first 10 years of its operation.
Time has changed the culture in favor of single-screen theaters. When the 4th Avenue stopped showing movies decades ago, we were in the age of malls and multiplexes. Today, people want an urban, human-scaled feeling to their entertainment. The Bear Tooth Theatrepub is an example. It took the place of the Denali Theater, another single-screen theater once owned by Lathrop's company.
The developer's spokesman tells us that a shopping galleria would fit downtown better than the theater because, "Downtown is hurting, unsafe. There are a lot of boarded up storefronts."
What downtown is he talking about?
I think downtown is thriving. I can think of no boarded up storefronts other than the theater. Lots of investment is happening, including the Hard Rock Café two blocks to the east and "The Williwaw," a 7,000-square-foot dining and entertainment complex being built by the owners of Humpy's two blocks south at the site of the old Covenant House. On the "deteriorated" site the Fangs want to level, there are two thriving galleries and an occupied office building.
Here's the definition of deteriorated property for tax abatement in the Municipal Code: "unsafe, unsanitary or overcrowded buildings; environmentally contaminated; vacant, overgrown and unsightly lots of ground; a disproportionate number of tax delinquent properties; excessive land coverage; economically or socially undesirable land uses."
A glass 28-story tower that shadows the pedestrian center of downtown is less socially desirable than pedestrian-scale development of shops and small businesses.
What's happening here is that the developer wants a tax break to get a competitive edge over other projects. Other developers have similar plans. The parking lot at Sixth Avenue and G Street was cleared for high-rise construction. But these projects don't start until they pencil out. Getting rid of taxes makes them pencil quicker, so they can beat the competition.
The Assembly must turn down this deal, or get an iron-clad agreement that tax breaks come only with saving the 4th Avenue Theatre in a way that historians and preservationists applaud and respect.
Charles Wohlforth is an Anchorage writer and former Assembly member. His most recent book is "From the Shores of Ship Creek: Stories of Anchorage's First 100 Years," the official history of Anchorage written for the city's centennial celebration.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.