Anchorage city officials are pursuing a project to stand up a drug and alcohol treatment center at the former Golden Lion Hotel under an agreement that requires to the municipality to have it running by fall of next year — or the city loses millions of dollars.
If the city doesn’t meet the deadline, it could lose up to the full $15 million to Chugach Electric, Thern said.in city politics over the last several years. The city bought it as part of a larger, controversial plan from former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz to purchase four buildings for homeless services and for the required treatment center.Mayor Dave Bronson’s 2021 campaign, in large part, hinged on opposition to Berkowitz’s plan, and he vowed to sell the building if elected.
“I just hope that we actually have a provider and have an option, and it’ll all work out great. But if we’re stuck in a situation where we don’t, we could have some significant financial ramifications because of that,” Thern said. The city’s lease of the building to local homeless and housing nonprofit Henning Inc. is up at the end of June. Henning is master-leasing the converted hotel rooms to the residents.
The language in the agreement is vague, saying that the Alaska Center for Treatment should be a “substance use disorder center that will serve the communities of Southcentral Alaska by offering some combination of outpatient and inpatient treatment options, transitional housing services, and crisis stabilization.”
“We can partner with those providers to meet that need. And so that can that make this facility be more focused on critical needs in the community that aren’t currently being met,” he said.