Huna Totem drastically downsizes plans for private cruise dock, citing tariffs and other cost increases

Buildings now 18,000 sq. ft. instead of 50,000, underground parking and waterfront buildout eliminated; delay from citizen’s legal challenge cited as key factor in financial woes

A diagram shows revised plans for Huna Totem Corp.’s private cruise ship dock in downtown Juneau. The four single-story buildings totalling less than 18,000 square feet are a drastic reduction from the up to 50,000 square feet of multistory development in the original plan. (Image from presentation by Huna Totem Corp to the City and Borough of Juneau)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Huna Totem Corp. is significantly scaling back its plans for a downtown cruise ship dock due to a big increase in costs, with the company citing a legal challenge by tourism activist Karla Hart that delayed the project and tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump as major factors.

The original plan for the Áak’w Landing dock called for up to 50,000 square feet of multistory development for retail and other purposes, while the revised version calls for about 18,000 square feet of single-story buildings. Of those, three buildings totalling 9,860 square feet are initially planned, with an additional retail/cultural building of 7,960 square feet during a future phase.

The revised plan also eliminates an underground parking facility and development on pilings extending beyond the shoreline, and calls for pedestrian access at street level rather than via escalators and stairs.

A rendering of Huna Totem Corp.’s private cruise dock facility as envisioned in 2023. A smaller revised plan features single-story buildings occupying less than half the original space and eliminates the development on pilings beyond the shoreline. (City and Borough of Juneau)

The new design seeks to retain all the key aspects of the original including a welcome center, retail space, waterfront dining, a cultural center and extending the Juneau Seawalk, said Susan Bell, Huna Totem’s vice president of strategic initiatives, in an interview Friday.

"The property lot lines are out over the water, so when you look at that original drawing the plan had been to build to the full property line, which would have meant a lot more of that deck, buildings and seawalk would have been out over the water on pilings," she said. "And so we just scaled back to the property as it exists now and scaled the buildings down, and still feel it's going to be an excellent guest experience and an excellent place for residents."

The amount of parking for bus staging remains the same, but "the number of parking stalls for other guests has scaled back considerably," Bell said. The 38 spaces planned exceed the city’s minimum requirement of 20, according to city documents.

Huna Totem, in a presentation scheduled to be shown to the Juneau Assembly at a meeting Monday evening, states the cost of the original project went from $150 million in 2023 to more than $250 million now. The company cites four reasons: • An appeal of the Juneau Planning Commission’s approval of the project during the summer of 2023, which was resolved a year later.

• Time spent resuming public and Assembly engagement once the appeal was resolved.

• Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that "spiked costs of steel and other materials."

• A geotechnical analysis indicated the development extending beyond the shoreline was "prohibitive when combined with other cost increases."

Bell said the size and weight of the building originally proposed was a major consideration in the geotechnical analysis.

"We were going to have really significant piles supporting not just the overwater work, but really deep piles on land because we were proposing a pretty sizable development," she said. "So that had a big cost element."

The changes are significant enough the project will need to again be reviewed for a modified conditional use permit by the Planning Commission, according to Alexandra Pierce, the city’s tourism director, in a memo to the Assembly.

Bell said while Huna Totem still hopes to open the dock by the 2028 cruise season, going through the Planning Commission process again as well as other factors such as obtaining materials for the facility may delay that debut. She said the company’s intent is to keep the project’s cost at the originally planned $150 million.

The website for the Alaska Native village corporation’s project was listed as under construction, with its former content removed, as of Friday.

The website for Huna Totem Corp.’s Áak’w Landing on Nov. 10, 2025, and July 10, 2026.

The project has been controversial among some residents since its inception. Norwegian Cruise Line, after spending $20 million for nearly three acres of waterfront property in 2018, gave it to Huna Totem in 2022. The cruise line had unveiled conceptual plans for a private dock in 2020 and Huna Totem currently operates cruise ship ports at Icy Strait Point, Klawock and Whittier.

The Juneau Planning Commission’s approval of the project in 2023 was appealed by Hart, who has engaged in numerous efforts over the years to limit the presence and impacts of large-scale cruise tourism. She asserted in her appeal that Áak’w Landing endangered public health and safety, and didn’t conform to the city’s existing plan for the downtown waterfront.

Attempts by the Juneau Independent to reach Hart about the revised dock plans on Friday morning were not immediately successful.

Hart’s appeal was rejected by the Alaska Office of Administrative Hearings nearly a year later and the Juneau Assembly approved a tidelands lease for Áak’w Landing in April of 2025. Huna Totem and the city finalized the lease agreement in April of this year, with Bell telling KTOO the company planned to begin construction during the summer of 2027, but in May she told the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce the project could be downsized due to cost increases.

Tariffs imposed by Trump and other cost increases — such as a major spike in oil prices due to the Iran war — have been cited as a hardship in other local projects, including the proposed gondola at Eaglecrest Ski Area that was abandoned by the Assembly earlier this year due to its projected cost escalating from less than $10 million to more than $35 million.

Huna Totem, along with supporters of the Áak’w Landing, say it will improve ease of access for passengers who otherwise would have to take tender boats from a fifth ship in Gasineau Channel to reach shore, spread crowds out over a larger portion of downtown, and reduce ship emissions by allowing vessels to plug into shore power at the dock.

The company, in its presentation to the Assembly, notes it will accommodate a maximum of one ship with capacity for up to 4,500 passengers each day, will not impede operations involving an icebreaker set to be homeported at a U.S. Coast Guard facility adjacent to Áak’w Landing, and the lease is for up to 35 years with a one-time renewal option.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.