The City of Fairbanks on Monday inched a little closer toward accepting a plan to redevelop the site of the demolished Polaris Building.
The Fairbanks City Council passed a resolution at its regular meeting authorizing Mayor Mindy O’Neall’s administration to enter into negotiations with the lone respondent to a request for proposals. The vote was unanimous.
Demolition of the abandoned 11-story high-rise finished last year. The city owns the site, which is smack in the middle of things downtown, right across the street from Rabinowitz Courthouse.
After disputes between the City Council and two different mayors (David Pruhs and O’Neall) over the best way to handle the procurement process, the city released an RFP to redevelop the site at the beginning of May. It was open until the end of July and attracted one proposal.
The so-called Polaris Commons would be developed by Fairbanks Neighborhood Housing Services and The Urban Coalition, a California-based nonprofit. The proposal lists Alaska-based firm Bettisworth North as the would-be architect.
The two-phase project would include ground-floor commercial and retail space as well as 37 affordable housing units in the upper levels. A four-story building would be on the Polaris Building site, and a three-story building would be on a nearby city-owned parcel that’s currently a parking lot.
The proposal estimates a total investment of almost $24 million for the first phase – the four-story structure. It predicts that’d come from a combination of public and private sources, including almost $14.5 million in proceeds from federal low-income housing tax credits and a $425,000 land loan from the city.
The City Council’s approval of the resolution on Monday doesn’t guarantee the project will happen. Rather, it opens the door for talks between the administration and the organizations that proposed the project.
The City Council is expected to hear more from the developers in a presentation at a Sept. 8 work session. According to the resolution, any subsequent transfer, sale or lease of property associated with the negotiation will require an ordinance of the City Council.