A Family Affair: Watterson Construction: thriving in Alaska since 1981.

• Position: TOP 49ERS SPECIAL SECTION

Bill and Helga Watterson founded Watterson Construction in Anchorage in 1981. Sixteen years later in 1997, Watterson Construction debuted as an Alaska Business Top 49er, reporting revenue of nearly $27 million in 1996. With the exception of 1998, Watterson Construction has been a Top 49er every year since. While the company has moved up and down the list, Watterson Construction has consistently found itself in the ranks of Alaska's top earning, Alaskan-owned businesses.

This year Watterson Construction is once again climbing up, jumping 13 places to the number 35 spot, reporting more than $85 million in 2018 revenue. That's more than double the revenue the company reported for 2017, much of which can be attributed to federal spending on construction in the Interior. Watterson Construction is one of the many companies that have secured contracts related to the F-35 beddown at Eielson Air Force Base.

In 2017 Watterson Construction was awarded the contract to construct the 30,000-square-foot F-35 Lightning II flight simulator at Eielson. Breaking ground in March 2017 "mark[ed] the beginning of improvements to the base's infrastructure to house the new aircraft," according to a release from Eielson. Construction was completed in 2018 on the facility that contains six Lockheed Martin simulator pods and will be the primary pilot training center for the F-35 aircraft on the base.

According to President Jim Watterson, the company has five ongoing projects, including two that were awarded to a joint venture between Watterson Construction and Callahan Construction Company, an 8(a) general contractor operating out of North Pole. Those include a $7.8 million design-bid-build project to construct six earth-covered magazines and a $19.1 million project to build a consolidated munitions administration facility at Eielson.

In Anchorage, Watterson Construction is working on a multi-family housing development located at 9th Avenue and P Street; a project at Southcentral Foundation's primary care facility, and Span Alaska's new 54,000-square-foot freight terminal.

Minor and Major Changes

It's routine for projects to come and go for a general contractor, and Watterson says he and the board are examining projects and options for next year, including potentially looking at new market spaces. But the company already experienced a significant change this year when Bill Watterson stepped down from his position as president in July, though he continues to work at...