What Anchorage Could Have Been - Snowplow Edition

With back-to-back snowstorms having smothered Anchorage with near-record-breaking snow this month, residents are once again in a foul mood. With neighborhoods still waiting on plowing, parents scrambling as the school district cancelled school for four days due to road conditions, and bus service also cancelled for days, residents have taken to social media to express their frustrations. Even worse for residents, the first round of snowfall, which left the city with snow that had the consistency of wet concrete, left its legacy in the form of canyon-level ruts on many of the city's busiest roads. 

I myself can attest to the severity of the ruts on the road: in my near-twenty years of driving in Anchorage, I have never experienced a more bumpier ride than I had this past week. While turning east onto Benson Boulevard from Denali Street a few days ago, I found that traffic at the light with the New Seward Highway had backed nearly all the way to Denali, spanning the length of the Midtown Mall. I thought perhaps it was a convoy of snowplows up ahead that had resulted in the traffic. Then I thought maybe it was an accident up ahead. But as I crawled closer to the intersection with the New Seward, it became clear why there was a backup: It was the ruts. An entire lane at the intersection was being abandoned left and right by drivers, as it had a deeper level of ruts that nobody dared mess with. Everywhere else, drivers crawled at slow speeds not only to save their tires and axels, but also to prevent a rut from suddenly thrusting their vehicle onto another lane, sending them into a collision with another car. I remember having to look at the two lanes on either side of me, checking to make sure that no car was sent my direction by the icy ruts. It was that bad. 

But as I look on at this near-annual collective rage from city residents, I am once again reminded of how things could have been had Anchorage approached city building with careful urban planning. I quickly made this map, seen above, of how Anchorage might have looked had it maintained an even coverage of urban density, perhaps, at minimum, with density comparable to that of the Bootleggers Cove neighborhood east of downtown. With the city's roughly 270,000 citizens in a more compact city, it may very well be that Tudor Road or International Airport Road would become the city's southernmost road. But this is a very rough, non-scientific estimation. Under this ideal version of Anchorage, half, if not more than half, of the city's streets, roads, and freeways are gone. This includes all of Dimond Boulevard, all of O'Malley Road, all of Jewel Lake Drive and Raspberry Road, all of DeArmoun Road, and all of Dowling Road. This also includes eliminating most of C Street, Lake Otis, Arctic Boulevard, and the Old Seward Highway. The entirety of the Minnesota expressway would also be eliminated. I've had this ideal vision of Anchorage in my head for many years, and while I have used this vision as a way to improve walkability, make transit viable, and make the city more attractive and livable, this fantasy map also serves as a guide on how not to overwork your snowplow and grader drivers. With snow crew from the state and municipality concentrated on a smaller urban footprint, it's safe to say that the nasty ruts drivers have been recently experiencing, which is the result of long neglect from overworked snow crews, would be a thing of the past. 

And yes, for those scanning the map for details, I've included some additional changes to the city! For starters, I've curbed the sprawl east of Muldoon Road. In West Anchorage, I erased Turnagain By The Sea entirely. Meanwhile, nearby, a green belt now surrounds Fish Creek; the trail that starts at Northwood Park now travels without interruption along Fish Creek and extends out to connect with the coastal trail at the Fish Creek Estuary. In midtown, I plopped down a park in the center of the business district. It's meant as a wink and a nod to the block bordered by Denali Street, 36th Avenue, Benson Boulevard, and  A Street. Before it became home to businesses like Walmart and Century 16, the whole block was grassland. I also included a large park in northeast Anchorage. Oh, and of course, I eradicated Tikhatnu Commons. 

4th Avenue: One Year Ago and Today

I stopped by recently to take the "after" picture of the stretch of 4th Avenue that is now under redevelopment. It is a jarring contrast to see this stretch without buildings. It is also a reminder of just how important buildings are to a street — they define a street. Throw in an architectural gem, especially one that incorporates the street's name into its design, and that street becomes an outright destination. A lot of debate will be had about the building that will one day occupy this block. But while the development that will replace this block may not live up to what was once here, I think it can be agreed that there is a worse alternative: nothing at all. 

This worse case scenario of nothing being built is not far fetched. In fact, Anchorage has already seen a former theater be torn down and replaced with nothing but a surface lot. Of course the theater in question — The Alaska Experience Theater, which occupied a purely utilitarian '70s-era building — did not tug at the heartstrings of Anchoraites, and it was demolished with little, if any, commotion. But similar to the current redevelopment project slated for 4th Avenue, The Alaska Experience Theater, too, was to be replaced with a much larger development. Actually, it was to be replaced by what would have been the tallest building in Alaska. Rising at over 20 stories, the Augustine Energy Center was supposed to take the form an office building on a parking garage podium that would take up the whole block, from G Street to H Street. But the project was to see groundbreaking at the worst time possible: 2008. The tower never got built. Today, though the debt ceiling crisis has been averted, talks of an upcoming recession continues, and interest rates meant to tamp down on unusually stubborn inflation are at historic highs, with more rate hikes forecasted for the second half of 2023 as of the time of this writing. 

Currently, the 10-story First National Building, which is also to be demolished for the redevelopment project, remains standing. But once that building is gone, nearly the whole block will be flat. Should the redevelopment project stall, whether due to macroeconomic forces or something else, downtown Anchorage will be left with a traumatic scar on its most famous street. This is not a defense to putting up anything on the site. I wouldn't be surprised if this redevelopment project, which I deem a superblock project as it will occupy most of the block, ends up a failure. All one has to do is look at the other superblocks on 4th Avenue: the Post Office Mall and the Sunshine Plaza, both of which are spectacular urban failures. The ConocoPhillips complex, the Egan Center, and the numerous parking garages in downtown are other examples of failed superblocks. 

This project is the largest undertaking in 4th Avenue since the post-1964 earthquake rebuild. Occupying the most centrally located real estate on the street, the developers will have to be very thoughtful with what they build. Hopefully they will think about 5th Avenue as well, as that side had long been an urban dead zone. Time will tell whether the redevelopment project was worth the demolition. But should the site instead go on to become a surface parking lot, we won't need time at all to appraise what got built. 

Block 41 Redevelopment Project

As of the writing of this post, the 4th Avenue Theater has been completely demolished, and demolition of the neighboring Adams Building, another building that has stood for many decades, has begun. For those who have not been keeping up with the news and are wondering what the demolitions are all about, it is part of a $200 million dollar redevelopment project being called "Block 41" by the developer, Peach Holdings LLC. The new development is to include Class A office space, retail, a hotel, housing, parking, and entertainment venues. 

Though artist renderings of the project were unveiled last spring, an article from Alaska Public Media confirms that the final architectural design is yet to be decided. This comes as no surprise as the renderings that were unveiled, displayed above, feature both the 4th Avenue Theater and the Adams Building beneath what looks to be a four-story structure (an official floor count has thus far not been given, from what I can tell). This initially caused confusion as some on social media speculated that this meant the theater was not going to be demolished after all. Of course, we now know that preserving the theater or at least the facade was not part of the plan. But with the developer saying that "elements" of the theater will be recreated, it has left people guessing as to the final design. We do know that the neon letters of the theater's marquee were taken down and stored away before demolition commenced. Whether the letters will be brought back for a new sign remains to be seen.

In all, every building on this block — except for the former Key Bank tower, which is presently undergoing refurbishment — will be demolished. Downtown Anchorage has not seen a demolition site at this scale since the 1980s, when whole blocks were demolished to make way for numerous redevelopment projects, including Town Square, the 5th Avenue Mall, and the ARCO tower. Before the '80, demolitions sites at this scale were last seen in the aftermath of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake. 

Demolition has started on the Adams Building

As I shared in my last post on this subject, I'm quite shocked that the developer went ahead with demolishing the 4th Avenue Theater in its entirety. It was very jarring to see the half-demolished theater in person when I went to visit the site late last summer. I never had a chance to watch a movie in that building, so I don't have any sentimental memories of the place, but nonetheless it was shocking to see it in its torn-up state. You think you are prepared to see it half demolished, but you really are not. I think it's safe to say my shock is over the fact that this was the most notable and famous building in all of Anchorage. And that's why this project is a gamble. 

I can understand demolishing the building but saving the facade. Countless projects across the globe have made use of old facades and incorporated them into new buildings. To demolish the theater in its entirety is a very gutsy move. It will be interesting to see what ultimately gets built, but unfortunately, I think future generations will look at whatever is built and bemoan the fact that the theater, with its ornate Art Deco architecture that stood out from a sea of '80s office buildings and utilitarian strip malls, was demolished to make way for whatever replaces it. 

A new tower (left) will replace the First National Building

I wish this project all the success it can get. As an urbanist, I'm a fan of new projects, and I love to see construction cranes in the air. Indeed, I am one of those who thinks a high-rise building is more attractive during its construction phase, with all its steel beams exposed to the elements before the curtain wall is installed. The worst-case scenario is that the project stalls and a giant parking lot in the heart of downtown Anchorage is all the city has to show for it. It certainly would not help the current mayor's legacy, a legacy that is already tarnished by resignations and investigations. Here's to hoping Block 41 really does bring life to this part of downtown.