A house in Anchorage that UA President Mark Hamilton purchased in 2004 could serve as his eventual retirement home, Hamilton said Thursday.

Hamilton and his wife, Patty, purchased the home in June 2004, according to state property records. Hamilton, whose contract expires in 2007, said he would probably leave Fairbanks to avoid overshadowing his successor.

"I think it's really bad form to stay in the same town as the next president," Hamilton said.

Hamilton declared the house as his second home in a 2005 financial disclosure statement for the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

Hamilton, who turned 61 on Saturday, said in an interview that he has no plans to suddenly retire. But when the time comes, he said he would probably retire in Anchorage.

Hamilton said that he purchased the home to be close to his children and grandchildren. One son is living in the Anchorage home while he attends UAA, Hamilton said, and another son lives a block away.

Hamilton said he's always had private homes in Alaska. He bought the Anchorage house after selling his Eagle River home, he said. He has another home in Soldotna valued at $141,400, according to Kenai Peninsula Borough property records.

The university provides Hamilton a free residence in Fairbanks, just off Yankovich Road. Built in 1994, designers intended it to be the most energy efficient home in Alaska, and about one-third of the house is intended for entertaining guests, public fundraising events and workshops, a university website says. Hamilton's Fairbanks home is valued at more than $1.8 million, according to a building inventory.

The Hamiltons took out a $250,000 mortgage to pay for the Anchorage house and property, then valued at $343,400, state and municipal records show. Today, the home carries an appraised value of $424,400, with $336,200 just for the building, property records show.

Built in 1995, the two-story, 2,700 square-foot house includes four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a fireplace. It also has an attached garage, a covered open porch and a wood deck.

Hamilton said his Anchorage house saves the university money by cutting hotels out of his travel bill. In 2003, before he bought the house, lodging in Anchorage for Hamilton's trips cost the university around $3,000, according to a state finance report.

In 2005, the University of Alaska spent at least $7,134 on transportation for trips Hamilton took to Anchorage, according to a state Division of Finance report. That's about the same as in 2003, reports show.

Of the 34 trips Hamilton took last year at the university's expense, more than three-fourths involved a stop in Anchorage, the report says. Hamilton stayed overnight at least 40 times during those trips, according to the report.

Hamilton said he would be "pissed" if anyone suggested that he traveled to Anchorage on university money just to go to his second home.

"It'd be illegal and immoral," Hamilton said. "I'd be insulted by anyone that would suggest that."

Hamilton said he goes to Anchorage frequently to get to other UA campuses.

Hamilton is on the road a lot, spokesperson Kate Ripley said. He traveled to Kotzebue and Nome recently and often goes to Anchorage for cabinet meetings. Hamilton was in Anchorage last week in meetings and for an interview on APRN's "Talk of Alaska."

"He's really been on the go lately," Ripley said. "But his home base is Fairbanks."

Hamilton and his wife first moved to Alaska in 1988 when the president, then in the Army, took command of Fort Richardson.