Early construction estimates total more than $65 million for the borough’s ambitious list of proposed economic development projects for the town, with officials counting on a large federal grant, land leases, cruise line and other port user fees to cover almost all of the costs.

Officials from City Hall and the private companies involved in the projects will share information and answer questions at a community town hall scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Nolan Center.

“It’s going to be a bit of a marathon,” Economic Development Director Kate Thomas told the borough assembly at a Feb. 10 workshop on the development plans.

The Feb. 10 meeting included a presentation on early cost estimates and the borough’s application for a $50 million federal grant to pay for much of the work.

The funding would go toward site preparations, roads and utilities to turn the former 6-Mile Mill property into an industrial park for a possible shipyard, a new barge landing for freight deliveries to town, and a small, privately run data center. The preliminary cost estimate for permitting, design and construction is $47.5 million.

That would include the cost of removing the deteriorating flatbed railcars that serve as a bulkhead along the shoreline and replacing them with armor rock.

“It came as a little bit of a sticker shock for me,” Capital Projects Director Amber Al-Haddad said in an interview the day after the assembly meeting.

Borough officials will come together “to see what we can afford,” she said. Changes to save money could include building gravel roads in the industrial development rather than concrete. And maybe leaving the railcar bulkheads in place, she said.

The borough would develop “the basic needs of the site,” Thomas said, referring to it as “shovel-ready industrial parcels” for private development.

Companies that move into the property would be responsible for the rest of the work to meet their needs.

“Every entity that goes out there is going to need some level of infrastructure,” and that’s the borough’s job, Thomas explained.

The federal money also would help pay for fill and armor rock to expand the Marine Service Center — including extending water service and storm drains — to expand the area for boat storage and leasing to marine service businesses.

The downtown waterfront work under the grant also would include a new 150-foot-long floating dock at the north end of the City Dock, with water and electric service to the new section and new mooring dolphins for ships that tie up at the City Dock.

The cost estimate for those downtown waterfront improvements is $13.5 million.

Adding a floating dock for cruise ships would solve the problem of using a steep gangway at the City Dock for passengers at low tides, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said.

In addition, the town needs the improvements as it faces growing competition from Klawock, which is building up its community as a destination for the same mid-size ships that Wrangell covets, he said.

A couple of ships canceled stops in Wrangell last year after deciding to go to Klawock instead, pulling several thousand passengers away from Wrangell.

Building a new flume to divert flows into the town’s water reservoirs is estimated at about $2 million for the 250-foot-long concrete structure, a rudimentary access road and slope stabilization, Thomas said. That also is included in the federal grant request.

Replacing the dilapidated, metal-culvert flume would boost flows into the reservoirs by about 15% during dry periods, she said, and by up to 30% during heavy rains.

The grant application deadline is March 3.

The Economic Development Administration grant would require a 20% match, Al-Haddad explained.

Separate from the grant-funded projects, the borough would borrow up to $4 million to finance a waterfront fill expansion between the Marine Service Center and the old barge ramp to provide parking and an access point for the new floating dock that American Cruise Lines will build for its ships.

The fill could add about 2 acres, Al-Haddad said.

The borough already has a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit in hand for all of the fill work, she said.

“It is our hope that once we get the design done and put that project out to bid,” the borough would have a better idea of how much fill it can afford, she said.

Villarma said the downtown fill work could be done this year.

The waterfront revitalization project also could include space for commercial users and retail vendors, public restrooms, a small park and pavilion for community use.

That downtown work would be funded by a municipal bond issue, repaid by user fees at the new dock for small cruise ships and other fees on tourism-related port services.

The assembly last year authorized selling bonds to pay for waterfront and port work.

All of the proposed work will be reviewed for the public at the town hall meeting to start at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Nolan Center.

Thomas said the meeting will include a panel discussion with representatives of the cruise industry, American Cruise Lines, Alaska Marine Lines (freight barge operator), JAG Marine Group (which is considering building a shipyard at the 6-Mile property), the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (to discuss its ability to serve a heavier electric load in Wrangell), and Greensparc (looking at building a small data center at 6-Mile).

“JAG is a landmark deal for our community,” Thomas said of the potential for a large-scale shipyard in town.

Chris Mertl, from Corvus Designs in Juneau, which has won awards for its work at the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial and Anan Wildlife Observatory, will facilitate the meeting, Thomas said.

Meilani Schijvens, owner and director of Juneau-based Rain Coast Data, which has done extensive research on Wrangell’s economy and Southeast overall, will present at the meeting.

There will be time for questions from the audience, Thomas said.

Comments from the meeting will be incorporated into the borough’s grant application for federal funding, she said.

A team of borough officials have been working on the development plan and grant application, joined by the Wrangell Cooperative Association, school district, businesses in town and the Alaska Department of Labor, Thomas said.

It’s a concerted effort to build up the town’s economy, she said.

In addition to jobs, the private developments would generate revenues for the borough in lease payments on the land and property taxes.