Sgt. Preston’s Lodge to become housing

Sergeant Preston’s lodge is a 40-room motel in Skagway that’s been serving the community for decades. This year its owners are making a change. They’re selling to a local businessman who plans to turn the property into employee housing. 

Chris Valentine and his wife Terri own and operate Sergeant Preston’s Lodge. It’s named for the crime fighting Canadian mountie character from a 1930s radio drama called The Challenge of the Yukon.  The Valentine’s have been in business for 15 years.

“Well we’re north of 55 and stepping aside. You know, this is a dairy farm its non stop work. The hardest part is labor. Having to house everyone you have is become really expensive.” This year, they’re selling the motel to Skagway Brewing Company founder Mike Healy.

“We’ve taken it as far as we can,” says Valentine. “Mike will take it to the next level.”

The name is a nod to the past; Valentine sees Sergeant Preston’s persisting into the future. Healy’s not going to operate as a lodge, though. He needs the 40-room operation to house his employees.

“I kind of had no choice! I said, ‘Okay we’ll do it,'” Healy says.

Growing businesses

Healy’s businesses are growing, he’s opening three restaurants this year. He’s got to add about 60 employees to his workforce, doubling it.

“We’ve exhausted every resource,” he says. “You look around Skagway — lots are sparse. We put out fliers, we advertised on social media: ‘Hey, business looking to expand, please call us. We’d love to rent your house or anything.’ But we came up with almost nothing.”

Skagway is a municipality of less than 1,000 residents. But during the summer months the population more than doubles. Last year there were over a million visitors; the municipality expects a significant increase this year. Seasonal workers are crucial to supporting this economy. The challenge for employers is making sure they have a place to live.

Healy’s already built nearly 60 bedrooms in Skagway in the last decade. This time, when he looked for lots he came up empty handed. He says he houses 90 percent of his employees. And he’s not the only business owner to do this.

“Most of them do. My phone rings year round with: ‘Hey. got any extra housing?'” He says he gets around 75 calls a year of business owners and individuals searching for homes.

The housing shortage isn’t a new issue. The community has struggled to keep up since cruise ship tourism took off in the 90s and a campsite popular with summer workers closed recently. But converting a significant number of Skagway’s hotel stock into employee housing solves one problem and creates another.

Sgt. Preston’s is a significant percentage of the municipality’s overnight lodging. Losing those hotel rooms means a pinch for tourists that need a place to stay. Healy says transitioning from hotel to housing is only a stop-gap solution.

“This is not our ideal housing. It just isn’t,” says Healy.”From a number of factors, it doesn’t make sense. We are still looking for lots to build housing on. Hopefully we can do that soon and turn this into a hotel again.”

Healy’s keeping all hotel infrastructure, so that when he gets his ideal employee housing, Skagway will get its hotel beds back.  And he pledged to open the lodge for wintertime events like the Buckwheat International Ski Classic.

A decades-long municipal issue

Kaitlyn Jared from the non-profit Skagway Development Corporation says that compromises like this are what keeps Skagway growing: “Skagway is going through growing pains right now. Housing in Skagway is funny because it’s pretty much short all the time. We’re one of the only communities that’s growing with the state economic downturn. Most communities in Alaska are shrinking.”

Jared says the demands of an enormous tourist influx creates some tension in the community–and a logistical headache for the municipality. Jared says that when ships started coming in the 90s companies bought up single family homes to turn into employee housing. This creates another housing problem for locals, especially young families trying to get established. It’s expensive to build here and real estate is limited. But people are building anyway. With her baby in one arm she points out construction just across the street from her office.

“It’s just transition time,” she laughs. “The tourism is what pays our bills. We want to be able to be diverse, but you have to be able to turn the lights on and run the city.”

The Development Corporation and city officials are working on solutions to ease the housing crisis. Higher density zoning is on the table, and so is a plan to move the RV park across the bridge to open up some lots in the townsite.  In the meantime, employers like Healy scramble to house their employees. Jared says that somehow it works out every year.

Back at the lodge, Valentine is also optimistic.“I guarantee in four years this will be a win for the town…so it’s a good thing. The negative is we’ve met wonderful people over the years. We’ll miss the hospitality part. That’s the sad part. We made it home for them people.”

He untangles a string of holiday lights from a shrub. The lights, he says, are a tradition that will continue. 

“This whole place is lit up,” he says. “You can see it from space!”

Space may be an exaggeration, but it sure lights up the town.