Profit predicted for Palmer.

• Author: Tyson, Ray
• Position: Job Corps Center in Palmer, Alaska

The opening of the new Job Corps Center in Palmer could create opportunities for retailers.

A town already short on retailers, Palmer is scrambling to close the gap by early next year when some 250 students take up residence in the new Job Corps Center, a federally-sponsored youth training program that could inject millions of dollars a year into the Palmer business community.

"We want to make sure that the kids who come into the area will want to come to Palmer. So we're looking for establishments that pretty much cater to the students," explains Brigitte Lively, executive director of the Palmer Economic Development Authority (PEDA).

Specifically, Palmer needs a clothing store, a shoe store, a movie theater, a book store, a tape and record store, a video arcade and, perhaps, another fast-food restaurant.

"Palmer thinks this is a great opportunity for new retail to come in," says Lively.

Palmer's community leaders also have been assured by federal authorities that many of the 100-plus employees of the Job Corps Center will be hired from within the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Moreover, city fathers are hoping those staffers will make their homes and spend their money in Palmer.

"I think the Job Corps Center is very important to the city," says Palmer Mayor George Carte. "I think any city needs to grow to remain viable. The community that's not growing is definitely in trouble."

In fact, Carte believes the Job Corps Center will help push the town's population over its peak of 3,300, a growth level not attained since the Alaska oil boom of the early 1980s.

"We feel that with the recent growth in housing, and with the Job Corps Center coming on line, we should restabilize this year and then move into a growth pattern," says Carte.

Palmer's Job Corps Center, which will cater to disadvantaged youth throughout the state, will be Alaska's first and the 109th established in the country since the program began in the mid-1960s.

"The design flows because it was made for Alaska," explains Jack Krois, the U.S. Department of Labor's regional director for the Job Corps.

The Palmer center also is the first in the nation to be constructed from the ground up and the first to be jointly financed ($18 million) through a combination of state, federal and local government dollars.

Specifically, the state contributed $4 million toward the project and the borough kicked in $3.5 million. To sweeten the pot, the city of Palmer donated 20 acres and picked up the tab...