Project roundup: busiest season under way.

• Author: Stomierowski, Peg
• Position: CONSTRUCTION

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The construction business in Alaska overall has been close to level for several years in the wake of the recession, with some projects hot advancing as quickly as anticipated and, to some extent, residents and communities, with the help of federal stimulus monies, concentrating on taking care of what they have.

Most of the public projects included in this year's legislative capital budget won't go to bid and result in more jobs until after 2010, said John MacKinnon, president of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska, a nonprofit construction trade association. Even if the $397.2 million education bond issue prevails in November, he said, 2011 primarily will see design work. Much of the street work, with the exception of the deferred maintenance projects, he said, won't be visible until after the projects go to bid in 2011.

AGC's 2010 forecast of construction spending from all sources totaled about $6.9 billion, down about 3 percent from the 2009 forecast of $7.1 billion (upwardly revised at year-end to $7.2 billion). In residential and private commercial investment, a slow employment decline that began in 2006 was continuing. Excluding the oil and gas sector (estimated at 43 percent of the total), overall construction spending was expected to come in about $4 billion, down about 4 percent from 2009.

Some sectors have been up in the forecasts--health 57 percent, utilities 23 percent and military 9 percent from 2009--while many have been down, MacKinnon said. Overall residential construction plunged and commercial construction dropped over several years, with projections of private residential construction falling from $750 million in 2007 to well below $200 million. Much of this can be attributed to the impact of the recession in the face of aggressive building trends in the years leading up to it.

Technology is a huge driver of construction work in Alaska, fueling health-, military- and education-related construction spending. Health-related construction has been a bright spot, he said, mostly because of the need to keep up with technological advances. A trend away from lengthy hospital admissions and invasive surgeries has resulted in more outpatient service facilities. Many small facilities are going up in the health care sector, including a new clinic in Fairbanks.

MacKinnon says construction is Alaska's third-largest industry, pays the state's second-highest wages and employs about 21,000 workers, with an annual payroll of more than $1 billion, accounting for 20 percent of the state's economy. Although construction continues year-round, even in Alaska, for about 500 companies that bring in annual receipts of $2.1 billion, summer is good for more than tourists; many Alaskans earn the lion's share of their livelihood in summer. Here are some of the projects various building sources described:

In Anchorage, construction was inching along this spring at Tikahtnu Commons, a $100-million-plus retail and entertainment center on a 95-acre parcel of CIRI land at Glenn Highway and North Muldoon Road. A Regal 16 Cinema there constitutes a new prototype for Regal Entertainment Group's theaters nationwide and is ushering in Alaska's first IMAX screen, according to Josh Pepperd, president of Davis Construction. The 140,000-square-foot structure, which was expected to be ready by mid-summer, was to have 15 auditoriums in addition to the IMAX and an enhanced food court.

Completed last winter in Anchorage were the eight-story Centerpoint West office building, north of the 14-story JL Tower off C Street and a 360-space parking structure west of the building.

Elsewhere, in Big Lake, the Lions Club is leading an initiative to see construction of an indoor ice rink/recreational center using grants, donations and community funding. Envisioned is a 26,000-square-foot metal building with a 20-foot ceiling. In Juneau, a new, locally funded aquatic center is expected to open next year.

Large port expansions continue in Anchorage and Mat-Su and work was being done at less busy ports in other areas. A $5.5 million restoration of administrative...