ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A new housing project that broke ground in West Anchorage Friday is the first to begin construction under a new property tax program that gives developers a break for building multi-family housing. When completed next year, Raspberry Townhouses on Northwood Drive will offer 58 units of market-rate rental housing.
Developer Shaun Debenham said the project would likely not have been financially feasible without tax breaks and other accommodations from the city, something Mayor LaFrance said is an ongoing issue in Anchorage.
“What we were doing, the status quo, wasn’t working,” LaFrance said. “We are not seeing any multi-family developments being built, and we so desperately need housing here, that the tax incentive, the tax break is a way to encourage that kind of development.”…