Alaska builders forge future: construction industry faces another good year shaping infrastructure.

• Author: West, Gail
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA

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Alaska's construction industry is alive and well, and, according to the Associated General Contractors' annual construction spending forecast, will account for approximately $7.1 billion of the state's economy in 2008.

The report, produced for AGC by the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute for Social and Economic Research, predicts that dollars going into building--excluding money spent in the state's oil patch--will be down slightly from the past two years. In 2007, the report said, construction spending declined 3 percent from 2006; 2008 continues that trend, with a decline of 6 percent from 2007. Grouping construction spending into two categories, private and public, the report demonstrates this decline falls primarily in the public sector. One thing the drop in construction spending, combined with the rise in material and labor costs, will mean to the industry is a decrease in jobs.

ISER's and AGC's report, however, goes on to say that, although there's a two-year downward trend in the industry, spending is still "well above the long-term trend."

PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION IN ANCHORAGE

Three of the most visible Anchorage construction projects are the new Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center, the Linny Pacillo (Anchorage's own parking fairy) parking garage, and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. Both the convention center and the parking garage are set for completion in 2008, and the museum will be essentially complete on the exterior in 2008, as well. All make downtown Anchorage a beehive of construction activity.

The 200,000-square-foot convention center, estimated to cost nearly $108 million, is on target for a Sept. 1 completion. Prime contractor for the center is Neeser Construction Inc. and architectural design was a collaborative effort of Rim Architects of Anchorage and LMN Architects of Seattle. The Municipality of Anchorage is the owner of the project.

The parking garage, which began construction in February 2007, is also nearing completion and will contain 836 parking spaces as well as several retail businesses. KPB Architects of Anchorage designed the structure, Anchorage developers are JL Properties Inc. and Venture Development Group, and Anchorage's Davis Constructors is the construction contractor.

"Our client for this job is the Anchorage Center for Convention and Trade," said Lynn Steeves, marketing coordinator for Davis. "The footprint for the garage is 32,000 square feet, and there will be 12,700 square feet of retail space on the first floor. Scheduled completion date for the garage is September of 2008."

The Anchorage Center for Convention and Trade is an entity created by the Municipality of Anchorage to oversee construction of both the convention center and the parking garage.

The third major construction project in downtown Anchorage is the revamp and expansion of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

According to Steve Jelinek, project manager for Anchorage-based Alcan General, the $100 million project's general contractor, the expansion is nearly 50 percent complete. Most visible to those walking or driving by the facility at the end of March, was the curtainwall, said Daphne Brown, principal and project manager for Kumin Associates, an Anchorage architecture firm.

"It's composed of unitized panels of glazed, insulated glass that is installed into metal frames," Brown said.

Each free-standing panel is 4 feet wide, and the heights range from 16 feet to 26 feet, Brown added. Some of the glass panels are opaque and some are transparent and are windows to the outdoors.

"The designer wanted a uniform surface, so people can't distinguish where there are windows and where there aren't," Brown said. "One of the unique features about this curtainwall, is that it's a low-iron, very white glass with a matte, mirrored stripe."

David Chipperfield Architects of London is the designing architectural firm, and Kumin Associates is the architect of record, managing the entire design process for the $100 million project. Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture, a Seattle-based landscape architect, is also a member of the project team. Anchorage-based RSA Engineering and nationally known Affiliated Engineers Inc. are the mechanical and electrical engineers, and Anchorage's BBFM is the structural engineer.

During the summer of 2008, the promenade is scheduled to be completed--a 30-foot wide walkway between Sixth and Seventh avenues, and the remainder of the landscaping and the exterior will be completed in 2009, Brown said.

"Our client is a nonprofit called the Museum Building Committee," Brown said. "Once the project is completed, it will be turned over to the Municipality of Anchorage and the nonprofit will cease to exist."

The museum's grand opening is scheduled for the spring of 2010.

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Going up on the east side of Anchorage is the new Clark Middle School, an Anchorage School District construction management/general contractor project with Davis Constructors. The new building, housing just less than 175,000 square feet of classroom, gym, office and other space, is a $65 million demolition and replacement of the original Ora Dee Clark school. Demolition of the old school began in May 2007, and the new school is scheduled to be completed in July of 2009. Major subcontractors on this project are Alcan Electrical Engineering, Valley Mechanical Contracting...