Anchorage Reconsiders Iconic 4th Avenue Theatre Development Proposal

Alaska Dispatch News reporter Devin Kelly reports on the denial of tax break that was part of a proposal to redevelop the 4th Avenue Theatre in Anchorage:

The owner of the theater and adjacent properties, Peach Investments, had proposed a complex costing roughly $278 million that would include pedestrian shopping, a parking garage and tower. The Assembly declared the property "deteriorated" last May, and in September, Peach Investments applied for partial tax exemptions amounting to about $38 million over 10 years.

Without a tax break, the owners argued, the project most likely couldn't happen. But in a memo to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and the Assembly, Anchorage chief fiscal officer Robert Harris said the application didn't demonstrate that the tax break was in fact necessary — or that the project even qualified for one under current city law.

A local television news channel also provided coverage of the long-running redevelopment saga of the now deteriorated piece of property in the heart of downtown Anchorage. Rejection of this latest development proposal puts the project site back in limbo for the foreseeable future.