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.