Wrangell is getting closer to a major expansion of its downtown waterfront, building a new rock wall and adding fill to gain a couple of acres for expansion of the Marine Service Center, a public park, covered pavilion, parking and possible future commercial development along Campbell Drive.

The overall project also includes an extension to the City Dock.

City Hall staff briefed the borough assembly on plans at a work session July 28.

The entire project could total around $15 million.

The borough has requested $10.3 million from the federal Economic Development Administration, with a decision on the grant application anticipated later this summer.

The borough also has more than $4 million available from a bond issue approved by the assembly in April 2025 to put toward waterfront development.

The extent of the fill and development of the new uplands will depend on how much money is available and the costs when the borough goes out for bids.

Much of the federal grant would go toward adding a 150-foot-long floating extension to the north end of the City Dock, to better accommodate cruise ships at various tides than the fixed dock.

That project also would include a new gangway and also a new mooring dolphin at the south end of the dock.

Borough Manager Mason Villarma presented a proposal that the fill work could start closest to the City Dock, moving south toward the Marine Service Center, in case funding does not cover the entire rock fill.

Mayor Patty Gilbert and Assembly Member David Powell said it would be better to start with adding fill to expand the Marine Service Center, then working back toward the dock, and Villarma agreed to the change.

The marine center expansion would create new uplands between the Nolan Center and the water to allow more boats and a larger work area for the busy facility that serves commercial and recreational boat owners and marine service businesses.

A big driver for the expanded downtown fill is to accommodate American Cruise Lines, which plans to install a floating dock and ramp almost in the middle of the area.

The assembly in January approved a 40-year tidelands lease with the company, which will put in a dock so that its vessels can remain moored overnight without having to move to accommodate other ships.

 American Cruise Lines operates two 170-passenger ships in Southeast Alaska and is scheduled to add a third ship, with 130-passenger capacity, next summer, Alexa Paolella, public relations manager for the Connecticut-based company, said last week. 

The ship is under construction in Maryland and is scheduled to start service this fall on the Hudson River in New York state, she said.

The line is converting its unused paddlewheel cruise ship, the 360-foot-long American Empress, into a floating dock. The ship’s superstructure was dismantled last winter at Tideline Construction’s yard at 6-Mile in Wrangell, then the hull was towed to the JAG Marine Group shipyard in Ketchikan for refurbishing and painting.

The shipyard finished its work last week and the ship was moved to Ward Cove in Ketchikan for outfitting the deck, Villarma said.

 Paolella said American Cruise Lines will bring it to Wrangell next spring, where it will go to work after the company has piles driven to hold it in place.

The privately owned company did not disclose the cost of turning the 23-year-old ship into a 300-foot dock.

Villarma said the borough would coordinate its waterfront design and construction timing to fit the cruise line’s schedule, so as not to delay plans for the summer 2027 visitor season.

The borough’s tentative schedule, he told the assembly, is to settle on a final design later this month, working with PND Engineers; go out to bid and select a contractor in October; with completion by spring.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved the waterfront fill permit, Villarma said.

While the fill and Marine Service Center expansion are not dependent on other waterfront tenants, development of the north end of the waterfront, closest to the unused barge ramp and the active freight storage yard, will have to wait until those tenants vacate the space.

Alaska Marine Lines, which runs a weekly freight barge into Wrangell, has signed a 40-year lease with the borough for a new location for its operations at the former 6-Mile Mill site. Villarma said the new barge ramp and freight yard could be ready by 2028, which would make the downtown area available for new development.

The conceptual plan for an expanded downtown waterfront includes more than 22,000 square feet of commercial, retail and residential use, which could come later, likely depending on private interest in such investment.

“We felt it was important to have some commercial space on the waterfront,” Kate Thomas, the borough’s economic development director, told the assembly.

It’s important for the community that the waterfront is not set aside solely for the visitor industry, Villarma said, adding that a balanced approach would benefit the town.

He also noted that Wrangell’s application for federal funding had to show that the overall project could pay for itself with additional commerce in the long term.

As part of the multi-use plan, the drawings presented to the assembly show a covered community pavilion at the south end of the new fill, near the Nolan Center and facing a new park and small playground.

Assembly members discussed with Parks and Recreation Director Lucy Robinson the merits of a bandstand, which could be used for concerts, versus a covered pavilion. Robinson said she is researching costs and design options and would come back to the assembly with more information.

She said a pretty basic covered open-sided pavilion, about 80 feet by 40 feet, could cost about $200,000 for the structure and concrete foundation.

Downtown has been without a covered area for public events since the chamber of commerce had to take down its Front Street pavilion earlier this year, when the property owner wanted the lot back for another use.

A possible funding source for the pavilion, and other work on the waterfront, is the $375,000 one-time bonus Wrangell received this year when the Legislature distributed $37.5 million in cruise ship passenger tax money that had been accumulating unused.

State law says the money has to be spent for facilities or services that would be used by ships and their passengers, though not exclusively for their use.