Let there be housing downtown

Anchorage’s mayor, Dave Bronson, had downtown revitalization near the top of his to-do list when he took office in July 2021. Given the many issues facing the city, including homelessness and the resurgence of the pandemic, here’s hoping downtown remains a high priority.

A world-class urban center in Alaska’s largest city has long been the holy grail for Anchorage leaders. The quest has brought some success: walkable blocks of office buildings, hotels, restaurants and shops; the Anchorage Museum and the Performing Arts Center; and, not far from City Hall, two trailheads to the “Moose Loop.” What we still lack is a downtown economy humming like it’s always the peak of summer. For that to happen, downtown restaurants, shops, and service businesses need a steady demand base. And the only way to create that permanent pool of customers is to turn the downtown core into a real neighborhood Alaskans can actually call home. Achieving this feat would be a huge and historic accomplishment for the Bronson administration.

The mayor’s transition plan singled out downtown as the driver for citywide economic revitalization. The plan’s focus is on attracting more tourists and office workers. This is a great start, but it is not enough to fulfill the goal of a four-season downtown. Tourists don’t visit in large numbers outside the May-to-September window. Office workers are only downtown on weekdays, and the pandemic has made in-person work either optional or part-time for many.

What downtown needs is more places to live. A 2018 survey by the Anchorage Economic Development Corp.’s housing group found downtown was among the top three neighborhoods preferred by Anchorage residents. Seniors were the group most likely to want to live in close proximity to shopping, with 46% saying that was a top priority.

And yet, Anchorage has missed out on the nationwide shift toward city living. The list of recently constructed residential projects of any size is thin: Cook Inlet Housing Authority built the 50-unit Elizabeth Place. It also transformed the former Duke’s 8th Avenue Hotel into 28 units and renamed it Qanchi Place. Over on 8th and K Street, developer Shaun Debenham plans to break ground next year on 44 apartments at Block 96 Flats. The $6.2 million complex will be the first purely market-rate housing project downtown in four decades.

Helping developers build more housing to meet a range of consumer preferences and price points can boost the business environment citywide. Housing affects the ability of companies, government, and organizations to retain and recruit employees. A 2021 business confidence report by the Anchorage Economic Development Corp. found 32% of 210 employers said the availability and affordability of quality housing is either a significant or moderate barrier to growth in the city.

Alaska’s high construction costs, caused in part by the brief building season and the premium on shipping materials here, are major hurdle for builders downtown. The only projects that make financial sense target the upper tier of the housing market because those buyers can pay enough to give developers adequate return on their investment. But Anchorage can’t depend on a small number of wealthy residents for businesses to truly thrive downtown. We also need young people, seniors and families across the income spectrum who consider the blocks north of 9th Avenue home.

Previous administrations have put in place policies to encourage housing downtown, including tax abatement and letting developers choose how much parking to build. But there’s more to be done: partnering with developers to invest in projects; incentivizing housing builds on downtown’s numerous surface parking lots and other underdeveloped properties; mitigating offsite construction costs; zoning reform; and attracting foundational neighborhood businesses, like a grocery store. The Bronson administration has a great opportunity to improve the blocks surrounding City Hall. Here’s hoping they’ll take it.

Jeannette Lee is an Anchorage-based housing and democracy researcher at Sightline Institute. For more on these policy proposals, see the full article at Sightline’s website.

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