Eagle Crest board, Juneau officials confront $27 million gondola estimate and narrow funding options

Juneau — The joint meeting of the Juneau City and Borough Assembly Finance Committee and the Eagle Crest board on March 4 laid bare a sizable funding gap for the long‑planned gondola and underscored fiscal pressures at the municipal ski area.

Jim Calvin, speaking for the board’s project team, said the meeting’s first construction estimate from Cornerstone General Contractors came in at $27 million. “This is their first run at it and that price is $27 million,” he said during the presentation, a figure that includes roughly $3 million in contingency. The estimate, he added, was higher than earlier expectations and forces a rapid reassessment of funding and schedule assumptions.

The board presented a short menu of response options: seek additional capital from project partner Goldbelt (which the board said would likely attach operating conditions), pursue borrowing such as an ADA or other loan, solicit private equity or strategic investors, or terminate the gondola agreement and pay termination/buyback costs. Calvin told the assembly that terminating the project would still leave substantial sunk costs: buyback and rollback calculations, including $2.5 million already spent to purchase and ship gondola cars, would bring total sunk costs “into the neighborhood of almost $11 million.”

Why it matters: Eagle Crest’s long‑term plan ties a year‑round summer program and new lift infrastructure to a path toward self‑sustaining operations. Presenters’ operating models showed a scenario in which the gondola helped close an operating deficit and reduce future general‑fund support, with break‑even projected in the early 2030s under favorable assumptions. Without a recapitalization path, officials warned, the mountain’s deferred maintenance and aging lifts (some dating from the 1970s) leave the facility at risk.

What officials said: The board emphasized two immediate realities. First, some recapitalization and lift replacement needs are urgent — lift parts for older Riblett systems are scarce, and big lift replacements carry multi‑million dollar price tags. Second, even if additional funding is secured, permitting and construction timelines make it unlikely the project could be fully permitted and built in time for this summer unless a phased approach is used.

Calvin said the board is meeting with Cornerstone and Goldbelt and expects a guaranteed maximum price by April 1; that meeting will inform next steps and be a focal point for Assembly decisions. “There’s a $3.5 million contingency built into that $27 million price tag,” he said, asking the Assembly and the public to weigh complex tradeoffs around schedule, partner terms and long‑term stewardship.

Context and options: Board members and assembly members discussed likely scenarios: Goldbelt investment with conditions (including expanded operational roles), a CBJ loan or bonding to cover a shortfall, third‑party investment provided the revenue‑sharing arrangement with Goldbelt can be restructured, or an orderly project termination that accepts the sunk costs and pivots to aggressive summer‑revenue development instead.

What’s next: The Assembly and Eagle Crest agreed to continue discussions, prioritize outreach to Goldbelt and potential lenders, and return with more detailed financial terms and the contractor’s guaranteed maximum price at the April 1 meeting. The board also asked staff to accelerate business‑planning and summer‑revenue options in case the gondola is delayed or canceled.

Attribution: Quotes and budget figures in this story are taken from remarks by Eagle Crest board and staff at the March 4 joint meeting with the Juneau Assembly. The board’s presentation identified the $27 million estimate and provided the termination cost math; those figures were the central basis for the Assembly’s follow‑up requests.

Ending: Assembly members said they will review the contractor GMP and meet with the city manager and project partners to determine whether and how the project can proceed on schedule or whether to pivot to alternate summer‑revenue strategies.