Vacant lots on 36th Ave between Denali and Old Seward are the best place for dense apartment housing.

As much as I love downtown, I’ve found that the most suitable place for building dense high-rise housing in Anchorage is a little section of midtown on 36th Avenue between Denali and Old Seward.

This area has nearly everything but there’s one thing missing (no, it’s not more low rise hotel chains), it’s housing, there isn’t a single residential unit in this area.

Walking distance is a measure of the distance from a home or neighborhood to businesses, public transit, schools, shopping centers, and other vital places. In general, walking distance is considered to be between one and 10 blocks, or around 400 to 500 meters.

I surveyed the area and I found that this would-be neighborhood has all the amenities needed for those looking to live in an urban, walkable setting, it’s also directly on the People Mover bus route. Since there are no schools in this area, the appeal will be limited to the child-less demographic.

Two of the three vacant lots suitable for high-rise housing.

Within a 500m radius of the vacant lots, I found the following:

Restaurants

Kinley’s

Moose’s Tooth

Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ

Sushi Ya

Sushi & Sushi

Table 6

Outback Steakhouse

Fast Food / Take-out

Saverio’s Pizza

McDonald’s

Subway

Johnny Chicago’s

Pita Pit

Great Harvest Bread Co.

Grocery

Natural Pantry

New Sagaya Midtown Market

WalMart

LaBodega

Entertainment

Alaska Rock Gym

Century 16 Cinemas

Alaska Public Library

Office Work

Kuukpik Office Building

Tatitlek Office Building

Frontier Building

Denali Federal Credit Union Financial Center

KTUU

First National Bank Alaska

Alaska Communications

Jacobs Engineering

There are several other small office buildings nearby and several very large office buildings just outside of our radius.

Retail and Services