Anchorage Affordable Housing Midtown Development

## Anchorage Seeks Proposals for Workforce housing on Fireweed Lane

The Municipality of Anchorage’s development arm is soliciting proposals to convert an empty lot on Fireweed Lane into new affordable housing.

The Anchorage Community Development Authority is accepting letters of interest from building and housing firms that have an idea about how to “design,develop and construct a multifamily workforce housing project” on the 20,900-square-foot lot on the south side of Fireweed Lane between Barrow and Cordova streets.

The proposal is tentatively billed as “Fireweed Flats.”

“We are hopeful that someone will look at this as an open canvas,” ACDA Executive Director Mike Robbins said in an interview Monday.

The “request for interest,” as the early stage of solicitation is known,seeks to attract multifamily development proposals with 24 units of housing for middle-income earners, some portion of which must have two bedrooms and a bathroom.

According to Robbins, the city wants to see “attainable units” added to the property, meaning they’re rented to tenants at a rate that is affordable to people earning median wages. The city’s Area Median Income – the rate used by federal housing authorities to calculate assistance – is $90,300 for an individual and $129,000 for a family of four.

“That’s our vision. Ther hasn’t been a lot of multifamily (housing) built in Midtown in a long time, so the stock is aging. And we need more multifamily in Midtown,” Robbins said.design-moratorium-credited-with-boosting-multifamily-housing-in-anchorage/” target=”_blank” rel=”” title=”https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2025/07/20/tax-break-design-moratorium-credited-with-boosting-multifamily-housing-in-anchorage/”>approved by the Anchorage assembly for developments with eight or more units.

that “certainly helps you to make your return on your investment,” Robbins said. “That could literally save a builder millions of dollars over the course of that abatement.”

Anchorage faces myriad problems when it comes to housing.Much of the city’s stock, particularly of multifamily apartment structures, was built decades ago during the pipeline boom and is deteriorating.Median home prices have been rising for years, making entry-level home ownership increasingly difficult for many people. Median rents in the city have drastically increased in the years following the pandemic, pushing up average prices.

Developers and homebuilders have complained for years that construction costs, bureaucratic red tape and other factors have made it financially disadvantageous to pursue anything but high-end residential projects.

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance has set an ambitious target of adding “10,000 homes in 10 years” to the municipality to overcome the shortage. that’s included a mix of regulatory reforms, incentive programs and zoning changes — not all of which have fully come into effect.

Robbins said part of that effort is bringing in ACDA to spur new projects.

“We put our shoulder into assisting to make those things happen,” Robbins said of the agency’s work. “We’re here to aid the builders so they can get more units built.”

ACDA will accept bids through Feb. 19, and has already received “close to eight or nine responses,” according to Robbins.

“There’s a lot of interest in building multifamily right now,” he added.

Should a proposal be selected in February, Robbins said, a developer could be breaking ground by spring 2026. the project’s target completion date is the “end of the 2027 building season,” according to the bid solicitation.