Valdez Community

The original Hazelet and Meals Homesteads, totaling 654 acres of land were filed in 1899

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  • On “Good Friday” 1964 an earthquake destroyed the Town of Valdez and the Army Corps of Engineers declared the ground under the town permanently unstable. It was decided to move the “Town” to Hazelet/Meals lands and The Port Valdez Company, Inc. (PVC) was formed on May 21, 1964 to assist in relocating the City of Valdez from its original location (“Old Town”) to its present location (“New Town”).

    Of the original 654 acres of land owned by the Hazelet and Meals families, 140 acres were given to the City of Valdez for it “New Town”. In exchange, PVC received a twenty-year tax credit on its remaiing514 acres. Initially, the PVC leased and later sold land to Alyeska for the Black Gold Subdivision and Standard Oil for tank storage. In 1976, the PVC formed the Mineral Creek Land Co., a wholly owned subsidiary to develop portions of the PVC’s remaining land. This was done to allow PVC to remain as a land holding company for tax purposes.

    Following is a summary of these projects and their current status. Today, approximately 226 acres of PVC remain and are for sale, lease or partnership investment. Most of these acres are undeveloped land—“Meals Hill” or 181 acres. The remaining 45 acres are either larger tracts (Tract P = 14 acres) and Mineral Creek Industrial Subdivision are approximately 5 acre lots. All the flat land is surrounded with paved streets, stubbed out water and sewer and power lines. So the utility infrastructure is in place for all the 45 acres making it less costly to develop.

    Financially, the Port Valdez Company (PVC), Inc. has performed solidly over the years. It has continued to develop its lands and maintained a record of distributing dividends to the shareholders.

    Project History

    1. Black Gold Subdivision – 1976-1980
    PVC leased and later sold land to Alyeska for the Black Gold Subdivision and to Standard Oil for tank storage.

    a) Mineral Creek Heights – Phase I, a 47-lot residential development
    in 1977,

    b) the Evergreen Vista Apartments, a 24-unit complex built in 1978.

    c) Tazlina Vista, a 16-lot zero-lot line housing development in 1981;

    d) Mineral Creek Heights – Phase II, a 10-lot residential development
    in 1988;

    e) Winter Park Subdivision – Phase I, a 12-lot residential subdivision
    in 1991

    f) Winter Park – Phase II, an 8-lot subdivision;

    g) Winter Park – Phase III, also an 8-lot subdivision;

    h) Block 34 – Egan & Hazelet Hotel – sold to Exxon in 1992 after they leased it for several years;

    i) Mt. Logan Park – Phases I – III, a total of 28 lots in 1994;

    j) St. Elias Subdivision in 2004;

    k) Meals Hill Road, and

    l) several miscellaneous lots sold to the City of Valdez for snow storage.

    m) Today, approximately 220acres of PVC land remain.

    2. Evergreen Vista Apartment Building – 1978
    In 1978, the PVC built the Evergreen Vista Apartment buildings, comprised of 24 units, which provided the bulk of the company’s operating income for twenty years. We sold the buildings on
    January 7, 1998 to the Tatitlek Corporation.

    3. Mineral Creek Heights – Phase I Subdivision – 1978 (Tract T)
    All 49 housing lots have been sold. The last lot was sold in June 2000.

    4. Mineral Creek Heights – Phase II Subdivision – 1993
    9 of the 10 housing lots have been sold.

    5. Mineral Creek Industrial Park
    Lot 4 – Sold to Copper Valley Electric – 5 acres

    6. Valdez Herman Hutchens School– 1980-81
    Sold land to school district.

    7. Block 34 – Egan & Hazlet – 1989
    Leased to Exxon for a hotel during the recovery of the oil spill.

    8. Tract Q
    Divided into three lots. Sold to Bayshore Church, Valdez Development for low-income apartments and the City of Valdez for snow storage.

    9. Tazlina Vista – 1982
    Tazlina Vista was a zero-lot-line, multi-family housing development that was originally planned for 16 units. The first 4 units were built in one building in 1982. Two of the units were sold immediately and the remaining two units were used as apartment rentals until the early 1990’s. At that time, the two remaining units were sold. The remaining 12 units were never built, but the remaining lots were sold in 1996 to Wolf Point.

    10. City of Valdez Purchase of PVC Land for Snow Storage – 1994
    Various parcels of land were sold to the City of Valdez for snow storage.

    11. Tract E Pipeline Easement – 1994
    We negotiated a 10-year lease with Valdez Petroleum Terminal for a 20-foot strip of land through Tract E. The original lease term was from 1994-2004. PetroStar later purchased the Valdez Petroleum Terminal and the lease has since been renewed for another 10 years.

    12. Winter Park – Phase I Subdivision – 1992-1999
    In 1992, the Winter Park Subdivision was the first subdivision on PVC land to be developed by a party other than the PVC. However, the developer went bankrupt, and in 1994, the PVC assumed completion of the subdivision. All 12 housing lots have been sold.

    13. Winter Park – Phase II Subdivision – 2000-2001
    All 8 lots were sold to Wolf Point Construction (Stan Peterson) in 2000 and 2001. The lots hold single-family homes built by Wolf Point.

    14. Winter Park – Phase III Subdivision – 2002-2003
    All 8 lots were sold to Wolf Point Construction (Stan Peterson) in 2002. Wolf Point participated in some of the development costs.

    15. Mt. Logan Park – Phases I- III Subdivision – 1999-2001 (Lot 4)
    All 28 zero-lot-line lots have been sold to Wolf Point Construction between 1999 and 2001. Wolf Point built 14 duplex units on these lots.

    16. Pioneer E Subdivision – (Pioneer Commercial Subdivision) (old Village Subd.). A portion was sold to Walkers, another portion to the City of Valdez for snow storage, and the PVC has two lots remaining.

    17. St. Elias Subdivision –Phases I-III – 2004- 2006 (Lot 2 of Evergreen Vista Addition) 4.5 acres (30 lots) sold to Wolf Point Construction (Stan Peterson) for a zero-lot-line subdivision. Phase 1: Lots 1-10, Phase II: Lots 11-20, Phase III: Lots 21-30. This was the only subdivision that the PVC did not develop by itself. The PVC designed it, but Wolf Point & Stan Peterson was responsible for all of the construction costs.

    18. Meals Hill Road Development – 1981-2008
    The original design and survey started in 1981. In 1991, “The Hill” was thoroughly resurveyed and the road redesigned to meet City standards. A portion of the road was rough graded during blasting of rock on Tract V. In 1999, the lower portion of the roadway was dynamited for access. The PVC was able to take advantage of an opportunity to develop 2.5 miles of road by Bill Harris and his company Harris Sand & Gravel in exchange for his company to excavate & build roadways from blasted rock that he had to haul off from the adjacent State Ferry Dock construction contract.

    In 2006, Jack Roe, a land developer from Colorado entered into contract with the PVC to purchase 30 acres of Meals Hill. He spent three (3) years working on plans for a hotel and several residential lots on the property but the current economic downturn has made the project impossible to complete at this time. The contract ended in June 2008.