The city is considering a plan to demolish nearly all of the building between Harborview Elementary and Augustus Brown Swimming Pool to open up the area for parking downtown. The Marie Drake building once housed Juneau School District’s Montessori and alternative high school programs.
At a committee meeting Monday night, the Juneau Assembly moved forward with a plan to spend $150,000 to get more concrete cost estimates for the demolition and get more input from the public.
That’s despite some reluctance from members like Alicia Hughes-Skandijs. She argued the building could be used to serve other needs in Juneau, and wanted to explore other options.
“This, from a fiscal standpoint and just an operational standpoint, just doesn’t make sense to me, as presented as our best option,” she said. “Having a building that we could use for child care, which is been a top priority for ours and something that we know we need in the community, that is way more attractive for me.”
The building is named after a territorial educator who wrote the lyrics to the state song, “Alaska’s Flag.” The district gave the building to the city last spring as part of its school consolidation plan. It’s been empty of students since.
The Assembly briefly considered turning it into a new City Hall, but that plan fell through when cost estimates to renovate it came back high.
The proposed demolition plan would knock down about 80% of the building, including most of the former classroom spaces. Some of it would be left untouched though, like the planetarium and gym space.
City Manager Katie Koester said the plan is estimated to cost about $10 million, compared to $75 million to fully gut the building and renovate it. She said the Assembly will need to decide how the city would pay for the demolition if they choose to move forward with it.
“Really, there’s no version of demoing that doesn’t have a large price tag,” she said.
Assembly member Wade Bryson said demolition is the most fiscally responsible option for the space.
“Trying to keep things the same is going to cost us more in the long run than if we bite the bullet and make these historic changes right now,” he said.
The demolition would open up the space for 75 new parking spots. Koester said a portion of those may be used for city employees, but some could be set aside for students at the high school.
