Norwegian Cruise Lines has purchased a vacant lot in downtown Juneau, which is now pending finalization of the bidding process.
NCL Bahamas Ltd., which does business as Norwegian Cruise Lines, offered $20 million for the land. The next highest bidder was Royal Caribbean Cruises, which offered $13 million, according to Aaron O’Quinn, Program Related Investment Manager for the Alaska Mental Health’s Trust Authority Trust Land Office (TLO).
The TLO, which manages land owned by AMHTA, currently owns the 3-acre lot, just off of Egan Drive. The provisional sale was announced following the reading of five sealed bids Monday morning via teleconference in Anchorage.
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority has sold its subport land along Egan Drive in downtown Juneau to NCL Bahamas Ltd., which does business as Norwegian Cruise Lines, for $20 million. Norwegian Cruise Lines has until Sept. 19 to fulfill all the requirements of the bidding process, which includes paying 10 percent of the purchase price. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
The plot has been vacant since the TLO bought the property in the mid-1990s. Juneau city officials have been encouraging the trust to sell the land for some time, and earlier this year the trust commissioned a study examining how it could best profit from the sale of the land.
According to the trust’s website, the minimum bid for the land was just over $3.6 million.
The City and Borough of Juneau entered a bid of $4,250,049, which ended up being the lowest bid offered.
Ketchikan-based Survey Point Holdings, Inc., offered up the next lowest bid of $5.265 million.
Godspeed Inc., owned by the Binkley family of Fairbanks, which also owns the Alaska Dispatch News, offered $12.8 million.
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority has sold its subport land along Egan Drive in downtown Juneau to NCL Bahamas Ltd., which does business as Norwegian Cruise Lines, for $20 million. Norwegian Cruise Lines has until Sept. 19 to fulfill all the requirements of the bidding process, which includes paying 10 percent of the purchase price. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Norwegian Cruise Lines has until Sept. 19 to fulfill all the requirements of the bidding process, which includes paying 10 percent of the purchase price.
If the requirements are not met or Norwegian withdraws from the sale, the sale will go to the next highest bidder.
This file photo from Sept. 17, 2018, shows the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority subport land along Egan Drive in downtown Juneau. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
• Contact reporter Peter Segall at 523-2228 or psegall@juneauempire.com.
