Prices for the lots in the new Pederson Hill subdivision were released by the City and Borough of Juneau Wednesday.
The appraised prices for the 17 lots in the first phase of the development range from $120,000-148,000 totaling $2,276,000, with an average of $133,882, according to a press release from the city.
The first six lots will be sold by lottery at a fixed price on Dec. 10. Those lots range between $135,000 and $148,000.
The next lots will be sold in a sealed competitive bid process on Dec. 17. Those lots will be sold in two batches. Six of those lots will be sold as a block, and the remaining five will be sold individually.
The lots to be sold as a block have all been appraised at $128,000 each for a total of $768,000. The remaining lots, ranging from $120,000 to $148,000, are worth $693,000, according to appraisal information.
The appraisal was done by the Julie Dinneen Company out of Larfayette, Colorado. The company looked at comparable lots in other areas of the Mendenhall Valley. The subdivision is located off Glacier Highway between Auke Lake and the Mendenhall River.
The appraisals assigned higher values to larger lots and lots located on corners. “In estimated value for each lot,” the appraisal document says, “larger size and corner locations are considered superior features, and irregular shape, shared driveway access and relatively small size are considered inferior features.”
The subdivision is the city’s first foray into land development. By constructing the roads, sewer and other infrastructure, as well as making the lots smaller, city officials had hoped to keep the prices of the home eventually built there lower than those built by private developers.
City officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 6 to celebrate the near completion of the project. “A lot of people are interested,” said Mayor Beth Weldon at the time, referring to developers looking to build homes on the land.
Map of the Pederson Hill subdivision. Lots in the yellow, phase 1A area have been appraised at prices ranging from $120,000-148,000. Parcels will be sold on Dec. 10 and 17.
However, once the land is sold builders can construct and then sell whatever kind of homes they want so lower home prices are not necessarily guaranteed.
The project was not without its critics, with some arguing the city shouldn’t be involved in land development. There were also concerned with the price. The Empire reported last year that the project cost was just shy of $9 million.
In 2016, the Empire reported that City Lands Manager Greg Chaney had wanted to sell the lots for roughly $80,000 in hopes of having the homes built there sold for about $300,000.
The city has to sell the lots at fair market value, said Deputy Lands Manager Dan Bleidorn.
“The people that purchase these lots will be able to put any type of homes they want on them,” Bleidorn said.
Bleidorn told the Empire in a phone interview Wednesday that the city has received a number of phone calls and emails expressing interest in purchasing the lots. However, those inquiries came in before the prices for the lots had been released.
The lots will officially go on sale in the middle of October, according to Bleidorn. Tentatively the date the city was aiming for was Oct. 17, Bleidorn said. At that time sales information will be made available to the public.
There are currently 86 lots designated by the city. If all the lots are sold at the averaged appraised price for the first phase, roughly $134,00, the total will be more than $11.5 million.
• Contact reporter Peter Segall at 523-2228 or psegall@juneauempire.com.
