As the Juneau Assembly moves forward with ending the city’s involvement in Eaglecrest Ski Area’s controversial gondola project, they’re now trying to figure out what to do with the parts.
At an Assembly committee of the whole meeting Monday night, the Assembly asked city staff to pursue a plan to terminate the project and sell all its parts and equipment.
The Assembly voted in early April to divest from the gondola project and pay back a $10 million investment from Goldbelt Incorporated. But that decision isn’t fully set in stone yet — the Assembly is slated to take public testimony and a final vote on May 18.
The project’s price tag skyrocketed to more than $37 million due to additional parts, high construction costs, and tariffs on imports. When the city purchased the gondola in 2022, the project was estimated to cost under $10 million.
At the meeting, City Manager Katie Koester said selling the gondola’s parts and equipment would recover some money, but not nearly all of the $11 million already poured into the project.
“It anticipates a recovery of $1.6 million but a timeline of two to three years to get there, mostly because selling the gondola parts will take time, and we will have to hire someone to do that business,” she said.
Right now, the project’s parts are scattered across thousands of miles. While some of it is in Juneau, there’s still some equipment in Austria waiting to be shipped over, and the gondola cars are in Colorado being refurbished.
Assembly members also discussed what to do with the ski area now that the gondola project is likely not happening. Since its purchase, the gondola has been touted as the saving grace for the ski area, which has long struggled to stay financially afloat without city subsidies.
The Assembly is currently in the midst of considering whether to subsidize Eaglecrest for the next fiscal year. If it doesn’t, the ski area will likely not be able to operate. It’s also considering having a third-party entity take over the ski area. Those are separate decisions that the Assembly will tackle in the coming weeks as it finalizes the city’s budget.
