Juneau’s Nugget Mall, closed since Jan. 2 due to concerns over the weight of a record snowfall on the roof, reopened Monday, Jan. 19.
“The structural engineer has approved a preliminary reopening of Nugget Mall, and we’ll be open starting Monday,” a statement on the mall’s Facebook page posted on Sunday stated.
“Each tenant may still open on their own timeline, if they are not open tomorrow, they will be when they are ready.”
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an official federal holiday.
Record snowfall in December, followed by more snow in early January and then record rain which caused further snow load and flooding concerns, resulted in the closure of numerous businesses and government facilities.
City facilities were closed most days during a two-week period that also included the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, and Fred Meyer was closed for two periods between Jan. 1 and 11.
Roof collapses occurred at numerous structures including the University of Alaska Southeast’s unused Bill Ray Center, a karate school, a boat storage facility at Fisherman’s Bend and the gym at Echo Ranch Bible Camp gym.
The closure of the Nugget Mall was the most prolonged among major retailers. The mall’s management, in a Facebook post Jan. 9, acknowledged frustrations expressed by some residents and stated the delay was “a safety issue, not a lack-of-effort issue.”
“The Nugget Mall roof is approximately 165,000 square feet,” the post noted. “Clearing a roof of this size safely requires a very large crew of qualified, licensed, bonded and insured contractors, along with proper heavy equipment and engineering oversight. At the moment, that limited manpower across Juneau.”
An out-of-town inspector was brought in for the Nugget Mall.
