Wrangell’s efforts to add to its downtown waterfront, develop the former 6-Mile Mill property for a possible shipyard and replace its leaky water diversion flume to the community reservoirs will receive a $43 million boost from the federal government.
The borough applied this past spring for a federal Economic Development Administration Industry Transformation Pathway Grant.
The official announcement is not expected until later this month, but Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is in a tight reelection race, delivered the news last week.
Borough Manager Mason Villarma said the downtown waterfront project will likely start before the end of the year to add rock fill so that the property is ready for American Cruise Lines to install pilings and a floating dock in the spring for its ships to use next summer.
The waterfront work also will include extending the City Dock, but that will be separate from the immediate need to add fill for the new, smaller dock.
Design work on the large-scale redevelopment of the 6-Mile site is expected next year, with actual construction not until 2028, Villarma said.
Building a new flume to direct water into the reservoirs also needs final design and construction drawings before it can go to bid.
The federal grant would be combined with just over $10 million in borough funds to pay for the three projects.
The work at 6-Mile will include shoreline stabilization, utility extensions, roadways and power to the 42-acre site. The estimated cost totals $38.4 million, with $30.7 million from the federal grant and a borough match of $7.7 million, according to Wrangell’s grant application.
The plan is to prep the site while City Hall and JAG Marine Group, which operates shipyards in Ketchikan and Seward, go after state, federal and private funding to build a full-service shipbuilding and repair yard at the property.
