Alaska's construction report: $100 million in incremental growth.

• Author: Hamilton, Vivian

When state economist Neal Fried describes the construction industry in Alaska during 1998, the picture he paints sounds much like that of a battery powered bunny on a popular Engergizer[R] commercial: It keeps going and going.

"We're running about $100 million ahead of last year in most areas, including commercial and residential (construction)," said Fried of the Alaska Department of Labor. "All cylinders are firing right now. Construction in Alaska is doing very well."

Contributing factors to the successful building season, according to Fried, were the strong national economy and low interest rates that continued throughout the summer and early fall of 1998. On a local level, he said the growing visitor industry has paid a large role, with growth in hotels, attractions, and services, such as restaurants.

"Construction reflects and accommodates that growth, rather than leading, so that our state's economy is not construction-driven," said Fried.

Despite the large number of construction projects going on around the state, Fried said fewer people are working in construction-related jobs because the industry has not recovered fully from the hudge employment downfall of the economic crash of 1986. According to Fried, about 4 percent of the wages and salaries in Alaska today are directly associated with construction, as opposed to about 10 percent in 1986.

"We've had a very moderate, slow and orderly recovery," he said. "It has been incremental growth."

Construction in 1998 was spread throughout the state in communities large and small, and financed by a variety of sources both private and public. Next year promises to be much the same, with Interior projects dominating the work load.

UAF'S FACE LIFT

Several buildings on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks have been undergoing remodeling over the past year to improve the looks and quality of student housing and classroom space. No work on the campus was more noticeable, though, than the new International Arctic Research Center, built to research arctic weather conditions and observe the northern lights.

The five-story, 100,000-square-foot building is topped by a glass observatory that looks out over the city and features two catwalks and three skylights. Designed by Kumin Associates of Anchorage, the building was constructed by Strand Hunt Construction of Bellevue, Wash. at a cost of approximately $19 million.

The building also is home to the National Weather Service and to representatives from the Japanese government, a big contributor to the project.

Strand Hunt also remodeled the Bartlett, Moore and Skarland student housing buildings at UAF for $6 million. The project was completed in three phases, and included changing out windows, upgrading heating systems, adding new ceilings, and painting the eight-story dorms. All work should be finalized by the end of the year.

Elsewhere on campus, Osborne Construction of Kirkland, Wash. remodeled the Bunnell Building for $6 million. The building, among the oldest at UAF, houses the journalism and broadcasting schools, a print shop, biology and chemistry labs, and a 250-seat teaching auditorium.

Howard Wilson, project...