Anchorage home sales prices dip slightly, but market steady

Anchorage real estate markets appear to be holding steady despite Alaska’s recession and a slow decline in population. The average Anchorage home sales price through the rst two months of 2018 was $353,764, according to Alaska Multiple Listing Service data. For all of 2017 the average was $365,023 and for 2016 it was $366,080, the MLS data said. While the rst two months of 2018 saw a lower average it’s too early to predict what the full-year 2018 average will be. Alaska’s population dropped 0.4 percent in 2017 due to a slow trickle of out-migration, and the same trend was observed for Anchorage.

BANK NOW OWNS FORMER LEGISLATIVE BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN ANCHORAGE:
Jacksonville, Florida-based Everbank has taken possession of the former Legislative Information Office building on Fourth Ave. in Anchorage’s downtown and is preparing to offer the space for lease. Alaska developers Mark Pfeffer and Bob Acree reached a settlement with Everbank to turn over the building in compensation for $28 million the bank had loaned for renovations requested by the Legislature. State lawmakers signed a lease for the renovated building and then pulled out of contract to purchase a building from Wells Fargo Bank in the city’s midtown.

ALASKA AEROSPACE SETS COMMERCIAL LAUNCHES:
The state-owned Alaska Aerospace Corp. is set for a launch from its Pacific Spaceport launch facility on Kodiak Island the first week of April. The customer is an unidenti ed California company that will test a new launch vehicle to assess performance but not put a payload into orbit, Alaska Aerospace said. Two launches were made last summer from the Kodiak complex, both for military customers testing missile defense interceptors. Alaska Aerospace plans more launches including one later this year for Vector Launch, Inc. Alaska Aerospace has also formed Aurora Launch Services LLC to offer commercial launch services worldwide (the corporation provided support last year for a launch in New Zealand).

MORE FEDERAL FUNDS TO AID NEWTOK RELOCATION:
The new federal spending bill has $15 million for the Denali Commission that will likely be spent on helping relocation efforts at Newtok, a small western Alaska village threatened by seashore erosion and ooding. Newtok has been working on a move to Mertarvik, a site on higher ground nine miles away. Some houses have been built at Mertarvik already, and the new federal money along with a recent $1.75 million disaster relief grant, will help that. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimated the total cost of Newtok relocation at $130 million in 2006, which adjusted for in ation is $150 million today. The Ninglick River has been advancing toward the village at rates of 70 feet a year, on average. Newtok is one of several coastal villages threatened by erosion from more frequent storms and ooding, an effect of climate change.

SKAGWAY BACKS AWAY FROM WHITE PASS DEAL:
Skagway’s assembly suspended its Memorandum of Understanding with White Pass and Yukon Route in light of a new proposal by Holland America Group for port improvements. The current White Pass lease expires in 2023. Skagway has been seeking a new dock to handle larger cruise ships and also to remove lead and zinc contamination from submerged soils in the port created by the loading of ore.

CARRS TO TAKE SEARS SPACE IN MIDTOWN ANCHORAGE MALL:
Carrs Safeway, the grocery chain, signed a lease for 65,000 square feet of retail space in the Anchorage midtown mall being vacated by Sears, which will close its retail store this month. Ironically, Carrs operated a grocery at the opposite end of the Sears Mall, closing it a few years ago. Guitar Center, a California-based music chain, will also lease an additional 16,500 square feet. This will be its rst outlet in Alaska. Both Carrs and Guitar Center will open in mid-2019.

GOOD YEAR PREDICTED FOR TOURISM:
Tour industry officials say more than 2 million tourists in total are expected in Alaska this summer, pushed up by continued strong growth in cruise passengers. In 2018 about 1.16 million cruise passengers are expected on 34 ships, up from 1.09 million passengers in 33 ships in 2017. Strong growth is projected in 2019, with 37 vessels expected to bring 1.31 million cruise passengers. The industry’s health generally re ects the strength of the national economy. In 2010, when the impact of the 2009 recession hit home, cruise passenger numbers had dropped to 876,000. The expected 2019 visitor number represents a 50 percent growth since 2010, industry officials said.

Despite this growth, the independent-traveler sector of the visitor industry has been at, re ecting cuts in tourism promotion and marketing by the state, programs aimed at independent tourists. The cruise industry is good for coastal communities where the ships land, however. Cruise tourists spent $176.6 million in Juneau in 2017, for example, and that is expected to rise to $200 million in 2019.

DENALI CREDIT UNION MERGES WITH CALIFORNIA CREDIT UNION:
Denali Federal Credit Union, Alaska’s third-largest credit union, will merge with Nuvision Credit Union in Huntington Beach, Calif. The change is expected to take about a year and will give the combined organization a market reach from Alaska to southern California and two other western states. The two organizations, with a $2.2 billion value, will operate under Nuvision’s name but the Denali branch locations in Alaska will retain that identity. Denali operates in Alaska and Washington while Nuvision has a market position in southern California, Arizona and Wyoming.

BRIEFS:
Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna has a $40 million project, underway this year that will be complete in 2019. Kodiak will install its rst “public” crane in April, a $150,000 unit that will be available to lift loads from small fishing vessels.