Chugiak

Located just 21 miles from downtown, Chugiak was one of northeast Anchorage's fastest-growing suburbs until recently. "We're lower on permitting than we have ever been," says Melissa Flint, a sales associate with Century 21 Realty Solutions' office in the neighboring community of Eagle River.

Chugiak, which means "the place of many places" in the Dena'ina Athabascan dialect, stretches about 15 miles down State Route 1 between the Chugach Mountains and the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet. It was founded in 1947 by a group of service members stationed at Fort Richardson in World War II who decided they wanted to put down roots in the area. It and Eagle River saw another surge in population during the early 1980s when the completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline flooded Anchorage with natural resources jobs. Chugiak continues to be a popular destination today for people who work in the natural resources sector, service members who want to move their families off base, and those who've always dreamed of testing their mettle in the country's last frontier. "We get people interested in living here because they saw a TV show about Alaska," Flint says.

Unfortunately, Chugiak's limited construction labor force can't keep up with the demand for new housing in the area. This situation is only made worse by the fact the community's relative isolation makes it difficult to bring in the supplies you'd need to build houses if you had the people to build them. So, while you'll see a handful of ranch-style and contemporary houses on the market today, you'll see a lot more – sometimes twice as many – empty residential lots for sale. "For sure, people are buying lots," Flint says. She adds buying a lot gives you a place to put a house should Chugiak's home-building industry ever return to its normal levels. These one and two-acre lots typically fetch $50,000 to $100,000. Prices for the community's existing houses range from $350,000 to $900,000, depending on the size of the building and the size of its lot. You'll find both properties on a network of narrow, winding side streets that cut through the densely forested Chugach Mountain foothills before circling back to State Route 1.

Children who live east of Loretta French Sports Complex on State Route 1 will attend Chugiak Elementary School. Those who live west of the sports complex will attend Fire Lake Elementary School. Students from both elementary schools will move on to Mirror Lake Middle School and Chugiak High School. All four schools received a B or a B-plus on Niche.com. The website also named Chugiak High the fourth-best high school for athletes in the state after South Anchorage, Dimond, and West High Schools. These three schools, like Chugiak High, are part of the Anchorage School District and could face off against each other in some epic Friday night football games between cross-town rivals.

During the summer, Chugiak residents can watch the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks, a collegiate summer league baseball team, play its home games at the Loretta French Sports Complex. They can also take their children to the playground at Oberg Park, toss a frisbee at the Peters Creek Community Park disc golf course, or fish for pike around Murph Island in Lower Fire Lake. But, all three of these activities get considerably more difficult between late October and May for an obvious reason. "We had four feet of snow on the ground at any given time last winter," Flint says. Luckily, snowmobilers and cross-country skiers take the wide, almost road-like, Peters Creek Valley Trail to the tops of Bear Mountain and Mt. Eklutna in the winter just as easily as cyclists and hikers can make this trip in the summer.

Throughout the year, Chugiak residents can stock up on supplies from the Three Bears Alaska warehouse store, where you'll find fresh meat, fresh produce, pantry items, liquor, guns, clothing, camping gear, and office supplies. It's also a quarter-mile down the Birchwood Loop Road from The Birchwood Saloon, a local pub that's served the community for 30 years, and two miles west of the Polar Bear Café and Luci Mae's Bakery on State Route 1. With these amenities, it's no wonder Chugiak continues to attract its fair share of admirers. The only thing this southeast Anchorage community needs now is houses where they can live.

Written By

Mac Mclean

Photography Contributed By

Chad Jackson

Video By

Taylor Noll