Fairbanks area building boom: more hotels push 2009 construction value above average.

• Author: Liles, Patricia
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

New construction values in Fairbanks are expected in 2009 to exceed the city's 30-year annual average of about $50 million per year, continuing a long-running trend for a building boom in the Interior.

"At the end of May, we were at $54 million inside the city and we certainly anticipate meeting our $65 million estimate," said Steve Shuttleworth, city building officer for Fairbanks. "It could be exceeded, with potential for late-minute commercial development this fall. I've heard rumblings that there could be some more major development at the end of this fall."

HOTELS LEAD BOOM

Construction of new hotels in and around Fairbanks has contributed significantly to the Interior's building boom for the last two years, with three new hotels being constructed during late 2008 and the early part of this year.

Those include a Hampton Inn in northeast Fairbanks, a Best Western on the west side of town and a locally owned facility called Hotel North Pole in that nearby community. All three have been advancing rapidly through the winter and spring.

Once open, those three new hotels will represent 8 percent of the community's year-round inventory of overnight room accommodations, according to Deb Hickok, president and CEO of the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Competition is our challenge," she said. "Some of the other hotels will lose market share to the new ones with this kind of increase in rooms."

The three new facilities will increase the total hotel room inventory in the Fairbanks area to 3,800 rooms, with the majority--3,300 rooms--open and available year-round, despite a strong summer tourism season in the Interior.

The three new hotels opening this year are following another recent wave of new lodging construction in Fairbanks. Last year, a Holiday Inn Express opened in late July, offering 114 new hotel rooms to the market at its location in the rapidly developing retail and commercial area in northeast Fairbanks.

Another new hotel opened in May 2007 near the Fairbanks International Airport. The 40,000-square-foot Alpine Lodge has 115 guest rooms and has added recently a restaurant, lounge and catering service, according to Yvonne Temple, general manager and co-owner of the hotel.

The addition of more new hotels in the Fairbanks area is "surprising," Temple said. "When we opened, there were already 5 percent more beds available than in the past."

Adding more rooms to the local market, combined with a projected...