Towns in transition: Fairbanks: Golden Heart City preps for expansion.

• Author: Stricker, Julie

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Fairbanks is proud of its position as the gateway to Interior Alaska. In the past five years, that gateway has been burnished as a wave of new construction reshapes the retail and commercial landscape of Alaska's Interior hub.

In 2007 alone, developers filed permits worth an estimated $127 million with the City of Fairbanks. It's the second-largest construction year since the oil boom of the early 1980s, following 2004's $151 million building season. And that's not counting construction outside the city boundaries.

The changes are solidifying Fairbanks' position as an economic and cultural hub for Interior and northern Alaska, says Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker.

"We are moving in a positive direction," Whitaker says. "We have developed a commercial sector that is adequate to serve as the regional hub we are."

Among notable projects are a four-story building in the heart of downtown to house the headquarters of Mt. McKinley Bank, the construction of the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center, major reconstruction of a mall and grocery store on the western edge of the city, as well as continuing expansion of Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

Retail growth is continuing on the city's northern edge, with a major expansion of Wal-Mart and the construction of a Holiday Inn Express, as well as banks, retail and telecommunications outlets and chain restaurants.

AIRPORT UPGRADES

For visitors, the most visible change will come as their planes land in Fairbanks. The Fairbanks International Airport is undergoing a $99.2 million renovation that is essentially rebuilding the entire facility. Anchorage-based Davis Constructors is overseeing the project.

Steve Shuttleworth, director of the City of Fairbanks Building Department, says the airport improvements are long overdue for the "gateway to the Interior."

"The airport is such a key," he says. "It's kind of putting your best foot forward. It immediately gives you some curb appeal, and I think that's really important."

The project will correct major seismic, electrical and logistical deficiencies in the current facility, which was built in three phases in 1952, 1969 and 1985.

"It's going to look a lot better," says Jesse VanderZanden, airport manager. The old terminal was essentially two terminals in one and not very efficient.

"This project is remedying all the deficiencies of the old one and essentially making it one terminal again," VanderZanden says. "We...