A prominent shack on a derelict pier in downtown Juneau was torn down on Thursday.
The pier is owned by AJT Mining Properties, a sister company of Alaska Electric Light and Power. CEO Alec Mesdag said the company decided to remove the shack because it was a safety hazard.
“We’re getting rid of what seems to be an attractive nuisance to prevent people from feeling like they should walk down a pier and potentially getting hurt because of the poor condition of the pier,” Mesdag said.
People had climbed onto the pier and painted on the shack: a peace sign, a slice of watermelon, and in bright red, the words “FREE GAZA” and “STOP GENOCIDE.” A sign put up next to the shack read “TRU(M)P & BIBI SAY WAR IS PEACE.”
Mesdag said the pier has been there since the early 1900s and was originally used as an oil dock. He said the shack was probably a pump house.
“There used to be a tank farm where the Salvation Army is now, adjacent to the Gold Creek power plant off of Willoughby,” Mesdag said. “There was piping that would move that oil from tankers up into the tank farm.”
Now, the pier is falling apart and collecting moss. The end of it was cut off from Egan Drive and fenced off when the state widened the street in 2019.
Mesdag said the pier will remain in place for a little while longer, but AEL&P plans to tear it down to make way for Huna Totem Corporation’s cruise ship dock planned for the area. He said he doesn’t have a timeline yet for the demolition.
