Something venture-d, something gained: friends build company and Anchorage landscape.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy

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What do the glass-towered downtown fire station, a revived City Hall, the new airport rental car facility, the under-construction Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center and "birdhouses" have in common?

They are all the offspring of Venture Development Group, an entity that contractor Gerald E. Neeser, 59, and architect-developer Mark E. Pfeffer, 50, formed seven years ago to coordinate projects for their respective companies, Neeser Construction Inc., and kpb architects (a company previously known as Koonce Pfeffer Bettis).

"It's really been in existence since we met 22 years ago, but seven years ago is when we formalized it with a name," Neeser said. "Venture is the glue between owner, developer and contractor. We do the things architects and contractors don't do--the financing, find the client, bid the owner's rep, guide through the development process. Venture sits in the center to make sure all those pieces keep continuity, to keep the owner on task and informed."

Venture has a work force of 10, who handle accounting, marketing, construction management, property management, contract compliance, business development and administrative duties. The company owns more than $70 million in capital assets (mostly concentrated in Anchorage) and takes in approximately $7 million a year in rental income.

VENTURE OUT

Venture's 215,000-square-foot, $110 million convention center is set to open in September 2008, in tandem with the Linny Pacillo Parking Garage, an 840-space VDG joint venture with JL Properties. The $62.8 million, four-story, 618,000-square-foot Anchorage Rental Car Center developed by VDG opened at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in July. And construction of another VDG-managed project, the 40,770-square-foot Aleutian-Pribilof Association headquarters on International Airport Road, is nearing completion.

A story about Venture is really a story about the two men who made it happen.

Pfeffer is an architect who likes delving into contracting; and Neeser, a contractor, is a frustrated architect, Neeser said of their partnership. "Therefore, we're a good blend," he added

Neeser was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, one of 14 children of a general contractor who put Jerry and his six other sons to work--each at the age of 9--on schools, churches, rectories and convents.

IT ALL BEGAN

"We would go in a three-month period and build a K-12 school," Neeser said. "That's how I learned to work fast. We would get from...