A plan to build a $500 million cruise ship port on the backside of Douglas Island is taking shape — and tourism leaders and North Douglas residents have a lot of questions.
Goldbelt Incorporated President and CEO McHugh Pierre presented to the city’s visitor industry task force on Thursday evening. He spoke about the local Alaska Native urban corporation’s proposed port and upland development project, called Goldbelt Aaní.
“We have plans and designs where we can create a solution to spread out the impact to generate and capture that economic opportunity, but make it better for us who live here, make it better for our visitors, and permanently spread out this economy,” he said.
Goldbelt announced its plans to build the cruise ship port in 2024 in partnership with Royal Caribbean Group. At the time, the announcement took city officials by surprise. Goldbelt owns roughly 1,800 acres of land along the northwest coastline of Douglas between False Outer Point and Point Hilda. The proposed port would be located on about 250 acres just past the end of Douglas Highway.
Goldbelt would be the project’s owner and developer and Royal Caribbean would be its main customer. Goldbelt plans to develop the port in stages. It’ll begin with basic dock and welcome center infrastructure before moving into broader ambitions like developing a child care center, employee housing and a replica Lingít village.
At the meeting, the task force asked about Goldbelt’s stance on the city’s agreement with cruise lines to enforce a voluntary daily cap of five large cruise ships in Juneau. Pierre said he doesn’t support it and the corporation did not sign that agreement. Goldbelt’s project — if approved — would be Juneau’s sixth cruise dock.
“We don’t think that’s good public policy, just like limiting vacation rentals is not good public policy, he said. “Why would you create regulations for something that we don’t necessarily think is going to be a problem in the future?”
Pierre also spoke to more than 100 residents at a separate North Douglas neighborhood meeting on Wednesday. There, residents had questions and concerns about increased traffic on North Douglas, changes to how residents live and recreate in the area, and Goldbelt’s plans for the development during the off-season.
The port project will need approval from the city’s planning commission to move forward, which requires public comment before a vote. Juneau City Manager Katie Koester said it’s hard to say how long that process will take. Goldbelt submitted a conditional-use permit application to the city in February, which is under agency review. Goldbelt hopes to open the port in May of 2028.
Goldbelt’s plan also coincides with another cruise dock development by Huna Totem Corp., an Alaska Native village corporation based in Hoonah. The Juneau Assembly approved the corporation’s plan to build a new cruise ship dock in downtown Juneau last year. That project has faced several delays, and last month the corporation announced it may downsize the project due to tariffs and high construction costs.
