Updated | Nov. 10, 2014 – 9:45 p.m.
The Juneau Assembly met for about half an hour in a closed door session to discuss the Gastineau Apartments with its attorney at its meeting tonight. When the public portion of the meeting resumed, the Assembly took no action on the apartments.
Original Post | Nov. 10, 2014 – 4:07 p.m.
The Juneau Assembly will discuss behind closed doors at Monday’s meeting what’s to become of the Gastineau Apartments building in downtown Juneau. The building has been uninhabitable since it burned in a fire two years ago.
City officials have been mulling several options to deal with the blighted building, which owner James Barrett has been unable to repair or clean up. One of the options being considered during tonight’s meeting is for the city to purchase the building. An appraisal was recently completed on the property with cooperation from Barrett.
Mayor Merrill Sanford says he hasn’t seen the appraisal yet, but the Assembly will hopefully make enough progress in their deliberations tonight to move discussions about the building to public meetings. He says the city has been negotiating with Barrett to purchase the building.
“They’ve got those numbers boiled down and made some offers back and forth and now we have to see if we, the Assembly, the nine of us, can come together on a point of contact,” Sanford says.
At the very least, the city hopes to get a temporary roof on the building before winter sets in to prevent further damage to the structure. Other options the Assembly has considered include offering tax incentives for a private investor to rehabilitate the building and taking the building by eminent domain.
Jeremy Hsieh contributed to this report.
