A private project: Millennium Hotel remodel.

• Author: Swann, Kirsten

Back in Anchorage, a private project is gearing up to transform the landscape of Lake Spenard.

The Millennium Alaskan Hotel, owned by Millennium Hotels and Resorts and the Anchorage home of the Iditarod, is undergoing an $8.3 million exterior and interior renovation.

The project involves completely overhauling the face of the hotel, its corridors, and 248 guest rooms. Carol Fraser, the hotel's general manager, says the work is the first major renovation the hotel has ever undergone.

"When we get done, it's really going to look like a lodge," she says. "We're trying to change this into an upper-end lodge."

Fraser says the hotel partnered with Neeser Construction for the project. The guest rooms and the corridors will be done by mid-May, but the exterior is...