Juneau arts nonprofit to run city’s Centennial Hall

Passersby stroll by Centennial Hall, downtown Juneau’s convention center on June 18, 2018. The city is finalizing a management contract with a nonprofit to take effect July 1. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)

Management of the Centennial Hall convention center is expected to be ceded to the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council by the end of the month.

The nonprofit already runs the the Juneau Arts and Culture Center in the city-owned armory building next door.

JAHC Executive Director Nancy DeCherney said it makes sense for one manager for both facilities.

“The JACC will continue to operate as the JACC,” she said Monday, “and hopefully it’ll just be more efficient to have one management structure between the two, which I think that was the goal.”

The city isn’t expected to realize any cost savings in the first year. It will still own and maintain the building.

The contract agreement is expected to be signed this week.

“We believe that closer coordination of those two facilities will be a better campus,” Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove said Monday. “We think that it can be run more efficiently. We think it can be run in a manner that makes it more attractive to larger conventions coming into town.”

Under a draft agreement, the convention center will continue to receive revenue from bed tax and rental fees over the next five years. The nonprofit will receive a management fee to run day to day operations.

A June 13 draft circulated publicly, set the management fee at $90,000, though both sides said that’s still being negotiated.

The city’s convention center staff have either resigned or accepted new assignments with the city.

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

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