After more than five years of boarded windows and an empty parking lot, the 10-acre property on Glacier Highway that formerly housed Walmart has been purchased by U-Haul.
Recorded Wednesday morning, the building was purchased by Amerco Real Estate Co., a subsidiary of U-Haul. According to the city’s assessors office, the site is valued at around $8.3 million. According to Aaron Landvik, deputy assessor at the City and Borough of Juneau, the city is aware of the purchase, but that is the extent of the information the city had received.
Angie Nolan, listing agent for the site and broker/owner of Alaska Unlimited Realty, said she will not be disclosing the purchase price of the property. In October, voters narrowly OK’d repealing a municipal ordinance that would have required disclosure of the property’s sales price. Nolan said contract details had been being worked out since September, however, she said the actual discussion of the purchase has “been a long time coming.”
The building and lot have been vacant since Walmart shut down its business in Juneau in 2016 less than a decade after taking over the building in 2007. Before then, the building was constructed in 1993 and originally served as a Kmart, however, it also closed down after a decade at the location.
Ray Rushing, U-Haul Company of Alaska president, said through a company media contact that U-Haul aims to save customers time and money by providing a clean, secure and well-maintained environment where their possessions can be stored.
Rushing said once renovations are complete, the property will include customer access to truck and trailer sharing, boxes and moving supplies, portable storage containers, towing equipment, professional hitch installation, hitch accessories, bike racks and propane among other commodities. He did not outline a timeline for the renovations.
He said U-Haul is in “expansion mode in Alaska” and has seen an increase in demand for moving and self-storage services in and around Juneau.
“We’re eager to bring our quality self-storage and residential mobility services to the former Walmart at 6525 Glacier Hwy. It takes a special type of business to fill such a large space. U-Haul is perfect for this property because we can fully utilize the space, and we’ll do it without the environmental impact of a new build,” he said.
• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.
