Transit Center Tower Project is Revived

A once-proposed 12-story hotel for downtown Anchorage that was later shelved has been revived, this time with the city partnering with a local group of investors to take on the project. Located at the transit center on 6th Avenue, the development initially made headlines in early 2020, when its unique design was first revealed to the public. Rather than demolishing the existing parking structure, the hotel would be attached to the side of the parking structure, with the building itself made up of prefabricated modular units that are built overseas and shipped to Anchorage, whereupon they would be "stacked" piece by piece. 

The project was to originally be built by a Bellevue-based developer, but after several disagreements with the city in 2020, the project was ultimately cancelled. This time, the founder of RIM Architects and several local investors are looking to revive the project. Having been recently granted a 99-year lease to the property by the Anchorage Assembly, the investors — organized under the name 6th Avenue Center LLC — now seek to secure private funding to bring about the new development. 

The downtown transit center in its current form.

While the new renderings of the hotel project feature a different design, the founder of RIM Architects states that the overall plan will remain the same. In fact, RIM Architects was tasked with the previous design for the original plan, before things fell through. Like the previous plan, the building will house a hotel; however, unlike the previous plan, a new hotel brand will be pursued to occupy the building. Previously, Hotel Indigo, an international boutique hotel chain, was slated to operate the hotel space. While the numbers are not exact yet, the building will have around 200 hotel rooms in addition to around 30 apartment units. The now boarded-up transit center, which would become the tower's base, is expected to have restaurant and retail space. 

I was quite surprised to find out that the People Mover's transit center is now boarded up. Apparently, the two-story transit center closed up entirely in 2020. I had not been to the transit center in more than five years, but in my last few visits, the place did indeed noticeably go further down hill. Numerous efforts have been made in the past to revitalize and upgrade security at the transit center, but, in the end, the hoodlums apparently won out. Now, plans call for the transit center to reopen with the new hotel complex, albeit its footprint will presumably be smaller as it shares the base of the building with new retail space. If all goes according to plan, construction is expected to commence in October, with the building complete by September of next year.