Some of Juneau’s oldest homes will be demolished within months as the Juneau Assembly by a 7-1 vote on Monday night approved the first stage of a Telephone Hill redevelopment plan that requires occupants of homes there to vacate them by Oct. 1.
The long-discussed redevelopment crossed a key line into reality with the Assembly’s vote to spend $5.5 million demolishing 13 residences on 19 individual properties and creating four developable lots. City leaders say their hope is construction of mid-rise apartments with about 150 total residential units can begin next summer if a developer is found.
About 10 people made final pleas to preserve the downtown neighborhood for the sake of the historic homes and residents living in them. Residents testifying against the proposal also cited the $9 million total projected cost of the demolition and building an access road, and the lack of a confirmed developer to build new housing at the site.
But there was also resignation among some who spoke that the Assembly’s decision was a done deal.
“We already know what you’re going to do,” said Tony Tengs, a downtown resident, who nonetheless argued against “scraping off the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Alaska” for a housing development project with an uncertain future.
“You may go down as well as a notorious Assembly in the history of Juneau if your big gamble doesn’t pay off,” he said. “It is wise to put this on hold.”
Among the reasons developers are hesitant about the project are costs and other uncertainties, which is why the city should do the preparatory work, City Manager Katie Koester told Assembly members when they gave preliminary approval to the proposal during a May 5 Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting.
“You might need to invest in demolition and site preparation just to be able to attract developers,” she said.
The COW advanced the proposal by an 8-1 vote at that meeting and city staff to deliver vacate notices to Telephone Hill residents during the week of May 19. The residents must depart the homes by Oct. 1 and the city states work in the neighborhood won’t begin before that date.
The lone opposing vote during the COW meeting and on Monday night was cast by Assembly member Paul Kelly, who said he wants a commitment from a builder to provide more housing before demolishing existing homes.
Other Assembly members said that while the concerns of people living on Telephone Hill are understandable, those residents have known for decades that redevelopment was the eventual plan for the area.
The neighborhood’s history dates back to the city’s founding during the 1880s and it became known as Telephone Hill when the owner of the Juneau and Douglas Telephone Company located his business on the summit there in 1915. In 1984 the state purchased land there with the intention of building a new Capitol, which failed to happen, resulting in residents continuing to live there the past four decades although none of the homes were owned by individuals.
The state transferred the land to the city in 2023, at which point redevelopment proposals began in earnest. Assembly members in February of 2024 voted to proceed with a redevelopment plan that includes the mid-rise apartments and construction of a road.
“I guess I would ask people who are living on Telephone Hill how much time will be enough?” Assembly member Wade Bryson said. “Because this action — this night — was talked about five years ago, four years ago, three years ago, two years ago, a year ago. This was not a surprise, or it certainly should not have been a surprise to anybody that it eventually would come to this.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
Telephone Hill in an architect’s rendering under a development plan advanced by the Juneau Assembly on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Illustration by First Forty Feet / City and Borough of Juneau)
