The Juneau Assembly approved more than $2 million in city funding to support four proposed affordable housing projects on Monday.
The money comes from the city’s Affordable Housing Fund. The fund was created five years ago to help combat the city’s housing shortage. It offers grants or loans to projects that aim to build more low- and middle-income housing.
The projects approved Monday are expected to create more than 40 housing units, including both single-family homes and apartment complexes located throughout the borough.
Dave D’Amato is a developer attempting to renovate the shuttered Bergmann Hotel in downtown Juneau into an apartment complex. In an interview on Tuesday, he said it hasn’t been easy.
“There’s quite a few elements that are outside the city’s control that are conspiring to make building very challenging and very costly,” he said.
Last night, he got some help with those costs. The Assembly approved a $900,000 loan for his project that would turn the historic 46-room hotel into an 18-unit apartment complex. The loan is close to one-third of the total projected cost of $3.1 million.
D’Amato said he hopes to have the units ready for renters within two years. He’s been working on redeveloping the building since 2017.
“I was really pleased that the Assembly decided to preserve the Bergmann and to simultaneously add 18 housing units to its affordable housing profile moving forward,” he said.
The Assembly also approved two grants to Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority. One grant is for $800,000 to help fund the construction of 16 single-family homes in the Pederson Hill subdivision, some of which are currently being built. The other grant is for $250,000 to help pay for building five single-family homes on North Douglas.
Southeast Endeavors, LLC was approved for a $200,000 loan to construct a fourplex on Lee Street in Auke Bay. The Assembly did not vote on a fifth project that was up for a $150,000 grant to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul because of a clerical error. That vote was pushed to a later meeting.
At the meeting, the Assembly also approved zoning changes at two locations in Lemon Creek to allow for more housing developments in the future.
