Juneau’s planned Aakw Landing cruise terminal is moving forward with a much smaller waterfront program after its estimated development cost climbed from $150 million in 2023 to more than $250 million. Huna Totem Corporation’s revised plan keeps the new dock and core passenger functions but cuts the uplands development from as much as 50,000 square feet to about 18,000 square feet.
The redesign appears in materials posted July 9 for the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for July 13. For travelers, the immediate point is simple: this is a future terminal proposal, not a change to a current sailing, and the project still needs local review before its revised design can advance.
- What changed: The planned uplands program fell from as much as 50,000 square feet to about 18,000 square feet.
- Why it changed: Huna Totem says the estimated project cost rose from $150 million to more than $250 million after delays, tariffs, and difficult geotechnical findings.
- What remains: The cruise dock, welcome center, retail, dining, cultural center, public park, event space, seawalk, parking, and street level passenger access remain in the concept.
- Operating limits: Existing conditions still limit the berth to one large cruise ship per day and require participation in Juneau’s five ship schedule.
- Environmental condition: Shore power must be provided within 24 months after a suitable power line reaches within 25 feet of the property.
- Traveler action: Do not change a current Juneau plan because of the redesign. Use the cruise line’s assigned berth and arrival instructions for the actual sailing.
The redesign keeps the dock but removes much of the original buildout
The original vision placed up to 50,000 square feet of retail and related uses on the downtown waterfront, with underground parking, an upper plaza passenger entrance, escalators, stairwells, and extensive construction on pilings. Those elements would have created a larger destination complex around the proposed berth.
The revised Aakw Landing presentation replaces that vision with a lower and simpler site plan totaling about 18,000 square feet. Parking moves above ground, passengers reach shore at street level, and the amount of development extending over the water is sharply reduced.
The remaining buildings are divided among a future retail and cultural center, a hotel component, and a welcome center in the site plan shown to Juneau officials. Huna Totem also retains a public park, event space, dining, retail, a cultural center, and a seawalk extension, so the proposal is smaller without becoming only a gangway and parking lot.
The developer says the revised concept remains consistent with the uses previously approved under the conditional use permit and the city’s tidelands lease. Local officials still have to decide whether the changes are substantial enough to require additional permit steps, conditions, or public review before construction can proceed.
Costs rose by more than $100 million
Huna Totem attributes the increase to several pressures that accumulated after the project was first approved. The company cites delays created by a legal appeal, time needed to restart public and Assembly engagement, new tariffs that raised the cost of steel and other materials, and geotechnical analysis that made the original uplands design prohibitively expensive.
The cost change is substantial even before final construction pricing. A move from $150 million to more than $250 million means the earlier concept rose by at least two thirds, which helps explain why underground parking, multiple story buildings, large deck areas, and more extensive overwater construction disappeared from the current plan.
Huna Totem has not presented the smaller footprint as a cancellation of the berth. Its materials describe a new dock and uplands development on the undeveloped Subport Lot C1 beside the United States Coast Guard property, with a revised land program designed to fit the earlier budget more closely.
The tidelands lease signed in April had already cleared an important legal step between Huna Totem and the city. That agreement did not guarantee the larger design would be built unchanged, and the new filing shows how construction economics can alter a terminal long after the broad waterfront concept wins approval.
Passenger movement becomes simpler and more direct
One of the clearest traveler facing changes is the path between ship and shore. The original design moved passengers toward an upper plaza and then down to tours using escalators and stairwells, while the revision places pedestrian access, emergency vehicle access, and tour movement at street level.
Street level movement could reduce dependence on vertical transportation and make the arrival path easier to understand, although final accessibility details will depend on later design and construction documents. The plan also keeps bus stalls for organized shore excursions and says parking remains above the minimum required for the site.
Passengers should not assume the revised plan changes where a ship will berth in 2026 or 2027. Aakw Landing is still a future project, and the practical source for any current call remains the cruise line, the published itinerary, and Juneau’s live berth information rather than a planning presentation.
Travelers preparing for a present day visit can use Deep Arrival’s Juneau cruise port guide for the current downtown layout and shore planning. The new terminal matters most as a future capacity and passenger flow project, not as a reason to rewrite a near term excursion schedule.
Existing operating conditions still constrain the new berth
The smaller uplands plan does not remove the operating conditions attached to the project. Huna Totem’s filing says the berth remains limited to one large cruise ship per day, defined as a ship at least 750 feet long or carrying at least 950 passengers, and it cannot use hot berthing to turn one large ship over for another on the same day.
The project must also participate in Juneau’s collaborative cruise schedule and follow the city’s five ship limit. The lower berth is limited to ships carrying no more than 4,500 passengers, a provision that shapes which vessels could use that position even if the dock itself is completed as planned.
Those conditions matter because a new berth does not automatically mean unlimited additional daily traffic. Juneau has been trying to balance visitor demand, downtown congestion, resident concerns, and the economic role of cruise tourism, and the Aakw Landing limits place the private project inside that broader operating framework.
The presentation also says large ships may not lighter passengers from anchor when they meet the same length or passenger thresholds. That restriction reinforces the one ship daily framework and helps prevent the berth from becoming a path for additional large vessel calls outside the coordinated schedule.
Shore power remains a condition of the project
The conditional use permit still requires the project to provide shore power within 24 months after an appropriately sized power line comes within 25 feet of the property line. Once shore power is available, large cruise ships using the berth would be required to connect, according to the developer’s summary of the permit conditions.
That timing means the terminal cannot provide shore power simply because the dock structure exists. The land side electrical connection, available capacity, ship compatibility, construction sequence, and city infrastructure all affect when the requirement becomes practical, so travelers should avoid assuming every future call will connect from the first day.
The project also needs a navigability study and written Coast Guard assurance that it will not impede the agency’s icebreaker operations. Huna Totem says the new arrangement accommodates Coast Guard access and harbor safety, but those claims still sit inside the public review and technical approval process.
Juneau’s waterfront debate often turns on whether new infrastructure can reduce congestion and emissions while serving the same visitor economy. The revised concept argues that street level passenger movement, a seawalk extension, organized vehicle space, and eventual shore power can preserve those benefits even after the commercial footprint is reduced.
The July 13 review is a step, not the final decision
The Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting gives city officials a venue to examine the new design, cost explanation, permit conditions, and next process. The agenda was posted July 9, and the project materials frame the redesign as compliant with the existing conditional use permit and lease rather than as a completely new application.
That position may be tested during review because the physical differences are large. A project that loses underground parking, extensive piling supported development, upper level passenger circulation, and more than half of its building area may still preserve the approved uses, but city staff and decision makers must determine how the changes fit the governing documents.
A final construction schedule is not established by the July presentation. Earlier reporting has pointed toward the 2028 Alaska cruise season, but that remains a development goal rather than a promise to booked passengers, especially while the revised plan, permits, engineering, financing, and public process are still moving.
Travelers with 2028 plans should therefore treat Aakw Landing as a project to watch, not a berth to select. Cruise lines assign terminals and may adjust calls years before sailing, while a private waterfront development can change scope or timing again as costs, approvals, and construction conditions evolve.
What the redesign means for a Juneau visit
For someone arriving in Juneau this season, the redesign has no direct operating effect. Existing docks, tour meeting points, transportation rules, and excursion instructions remain the practical framework, and travelers should not substitute a future site rendering for the arrival information provided with their booking.
The longer term signal is that Juneau may gain another coordinated berth with a smaller commercial campus than first envisioned. A street level arrival, public park, extended seawalk, welcome center, cultural space, and organized vehicle area could still change how passengers enter downtown even without the original upper plaza and larger retail complex.
The smaller plan may also reduce construction complexity and the amount of waterfront structure required, but it does not settle the community debate over cruise capacity. The project retains a full size dock and a daily large ship call, so residents and travelers may judge the redesign differently depending on whether they focus on building scale, visitor flow, or total ship activity.
Anyone planning an Alaska cruise can compare the proposal with current port information through the broader Deep Arrival cruise hub. The useful distinction is between today’s confirmed berth instructions and tomorrow’s infrastructure plan: one controls the trip now, while the other shows how Juneau may handle future arrivals.
Decision matrix for Juneau cruise travelers
| Traveler situation | What the redesign means | Best next step |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger sailing to Juneau in 2026 | The Aakw Landing revision does not change the current assigned berth or excursion meeting point | Follow the cruise line’s arrival details and current Juneau port instructions |
| Traveler considering a 2028 Alaska cruise | The project may be relevant, but its opening timing and final operating plan are not guaranteed | Choose the itinerary for its confirmed ports and treat the terminal as a future possibility |
| Passenger focused on accessibility | The revision moves passenger circulation to street level, but final accessibility details are not yet published | Request assistance through the cruise line and verify the actual terminal closer to sailing |
| Traveler concerned about downtown crowding | The project keeps one large ship daily and remains inside Juneau’s coordinated five ship schedule | Check the live ship schedule and plan high demand attractions early |
| Traveler following environmental measures | Shore power remains required after suitable electrical infrastructure reaches the site | Look for a confirmed connection date and ship compatibility before counting the call as shore powered |
The July redesign does not require a traveler to change a current Juneau booking. It is a future infrastructure update that preserves the dock and core passenger functions while reducing the scale of the uplands development, and the cruise line’s live berth assignment remains the authority for an actual sailing.
For later seasons, watch the approval and construction timeline rather than the concept images alone. The most consequential passenger changes are street level movement, organized vehicle space, a smaller waterfront campus, and eventual shore power, while the one large ship daily limit and Juneau’s five ship schedule remain important operating boundaries.
Is the Aakw Landing cruise terminal canceled?
No. Huna Totem’s July materials keep the proposed dock and a smaller uplands development, but the revised plan still needs review and additional development work before construction and opening can be treated as certain.
How much smaller is the revised Juneau terminal plan?
The commercial and public building program drops from as much as 50,000 square feet in the original vision to about 18,000 square feet in the current site plan.
Will the project add unlimited cruise ship calls?
No. The permit conditions described by Huna Totem limit the berth to one large cruise ship per day and require participation in Juneau’s coordinated five ship schedule.
Will ships use shore power at Aakw Landing?
The project must provide shore power within 24 months after a suitable power line reaches within 25 feet of the property, and large ships would then be required to connect when the system is available.
Does the redesign change a current Juneau cruise call?
No. Current passengers should follow the berth, terminal, and excursion information provided by the cruise line and Juneau’s active port operations.
