New Hangar Construction at Lake Hood: Building one of three nears completion.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: CONSTRUCTION

In September, Anchorage's rainy season was in full force and causing a work slow-down on a new building conceived of and developed by Lake Hood Hangars. Seth Kroenke, president of Remote Alaska Solutions, the general contractor for the new building, said in late September the building's roof was 85 percent complete. "Within a couple of days--as soon as the rain lets up again--we'll have the roof completed, dried, and done."

The structural elements of the building's walls and roof were 95 percent complete. Once the roof dried in, the plan was to immediately launch into pouring the concrete floor slabs. "In the next three weeks we'll be finishing the roof, getting slabs installed, getting asphalt installed, and starting with outside cladding," according to Kroenke. Lake Hood Hangers Developer and Owner Steve Zelener says, "More than likely by November we will already have the taxiways, the concrete pads, and a lot of the siding already installed on the building and the doors." This work is all in anticipation that Lake Hood's newest building, which boasts six hangars, will be available for occupancy in early December.

Long Development

Lake Hood Hangars initiated construction on the hangar building earlier this year, driving pile in March and hosting an official ground breaking April 19. But the company had plans to develop the property since 2010, a few years after purchasing the lease. Zelener explains, "All the land at the airport is lease land; there's no private land at the airport, it all belongs to the State, which leases the land to private companies or developers or individuals for the purpose of hangars or offices or things like that."

Zelener says three significant challenges stretched the property's development from conception in 2010 to a first fill and grade dirt work permit filed in 2015 to ground breaking in 2017. One challenge was that in 2010 the economy in the Lower 48 was struggling to emerge from the 2007-2008 financial crisis (although Alaska's economy was still relatively steady at that time). "We couldn't get enough enthusiasm and financing," he says.

The second challenge the company had to address was the cost of development, "especially at Lake Hood," Zelener says, where soil conditions are poor, which can increase the cost of construction exponentially. Third, development at Lake Hood is complicated by the "cumbersome and problematic" permitting and regulatory environment. "Not only do you need Municipality [of Anchorage] permission and permits but you need DOT permission, [Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport] permission, FAA permission, and US Corps of Engineers permission; so you have all these agencies that you're constantly dealing with and each one has their own issues and you have to overcome them."

Regardless of the challenges, Lake Hood Hangars persevered and developed an innovative, durable, highly functional hangar facility in a prime location.

Finding the Right Build

Initially Lake Hood Hangers planned to erect a pre-fabricated metal hangar structure, which can save construction time and cost, depending on several factors. Zelener says it was estimated that, to support the weight of a pre-fab building, before construction 10 feet or more of material would have to...