$45 million new hotel/retail planned for downtown Anchorage

Anchorage may get a new downtown hotel and retail complex. The project has been long in the discussion stage but developers David Irwin and Mark Lewis are in negotiations with the city-owned Anchorage Community Development Authority on a $45 million new hotel/apartment/retail complex built onto the downtown bus depot and parking garage at G and H streets, between 6th and 7th Avenues. The location is adjacent to the downtown Performing Arts Center and city of ces and near the Denai’na Center and state of ces. The municipal development authority owns city’s downtown parking garages. Last spring the authority asked for proposals from developers for the site at 6th Avenue and G Street. One question being asked is whether this will tighten downtown parking by taking stalls in the parking authority’s parking garage for guests at a hotel or apartment residents. The parking garage also serves the nearby Performing Arts Center and Denai’na convention center.

A SHOCK TO ALASKANS – SEARS, SAM’S CLUBS TO CLOSE: Sears Roebuck and Sam’s Clubs will close Anchorage-area stores, a re ection of national problems for both companies but also the effects of the state’s recession. The closure of Sam’s Clubs will affect rural communities who depend on bulk shipments from the stores. Sears’ national problems have been known for some time but the store is still a kind of icon, having been the rst major retailer to develop a shopping mall in Anchorage, in the 1960s.

CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYMENT TO BE UP IN FAIRBANKS: New building will boost Fairbanks-area construction employment by 7.7 percent in 2018, the state Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development said. It won’t be enough to erase the 10.7 percent drop in workers seen between 2016 and 2017, however. The new work is related to the Eielson Air Force Base buildup, a water utility expansion at North Pole and new lique ed natural gas storage tank for the Interior Gas Utility.

CONTRACTS SIGNED FOR BIG EXPANSION OF NORTH POLE WATER SYSTEM: Exclusive Paving won a contract to build a $51.2 million expansion of the municipal water system at North Pole, east of Fairbanks that will install 35 miles of new piping and connect 700 local land parcels to city water. The project is being funded by Flint Hills Resources to assist local homeowners affected by a widespread contamination of groundwater by pollution from the company’s re nery at North Pole, which is now closed. There was a big spread in the bidding. Great Northwest and Arctic Slope Regional Corp. submitted a joint-venture bid of $63 million; Peak Oil eld Services submitted a low bid of $41.5 million but it was deemed incomplete.

TOTEM INN REBUILDING IN VALDEZ: Reconstruction and expansion of the Totem Inn is underway in Valdez. Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s board approved long-term financing with First National Bank Alaska to retire the construction loan on Jan. 11. Sixty ve new hotel rooms are being added in the new facility, which replaces the Totem Inn damaged by re. AIDEA officials told its board that new hotel rooms are badly needed in Valdez, where growth of a vibrant seasonal tourism industry is impeded by lack of visitor infrastructure.

HYDRO EXPANSION AT BRADLEY LAKE GEARS UP IN APRIL: Financing was closed Dec. 23 on the Alaska Energy Authority’s $47 million Battle Creek Diversion project at AEA’s Bradley Lake hydro facility near Homer, and mobilization is set for April, AEA’s board was told Jan. 11. Construction will take three years. The project will tap a lake near the existing hydro plant, adding additional power generation capacity. Four of the six “railbelt” utilities are signed on to buy power from the new project.

Winter tourists from China are at Bernie Karl’s Chena Hot Springs resort east of Fairbanks in big numbers this winter, largely replacing Japanese. Karl is now working on his own air charter arrangements to bring more next winter. “This is a growth market. There are a lot of Chinese,” Karl told us.

NEW PLAN FOR STATE FERRY SYSTEM IS OUT, BUT IS COSTLY: Southeast Conference published its long-awaited Alaska Marine Highway Strategic Business and Operations plan, the core of which is setting up an independent entity to operate the state ferries much like the state-owned Alaska Railroad Corp. However, another part of the proposal, a big “pre-funding” package, prompted criticism from Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, as unrealistic given the state’s current financial position. As the state senator from southern Southeast Stedman will have to carry the ferry reorganization bill in the Legislature. The system connects coastal communities not served by roads but needs big state operating subsidies.

DESPITE RECESSION, ALASKA MEDIAN FAMILY INCOME STILL HIGH: Alaska is feeling the effects of recession but the state’s median family income in 2016 was still third highest in the nation according to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, First Bank Alaska reported in its monthly economics newsletter. Alaska median family income was $76,144 compared with the national average of $57,617. Maryland and New Jersey reported higher median family incomes than Alaska.

ALASKA POVERTY RATE STILL LOW, BUT NOT AMONG CHILDREN: The Commerce Department also reported that Alaska’s poverty rate in 2016 was still the third lowest in the nation, although the gure is of limited significance because it does not factor in regional cost-of-living differentials. The Alaska poverty rate was 9.9 percent compared with a national average of 14 percent. The measure is of Alaskans living at or below the “poverty threshold” of $24,563 for a family of four. Because the rate does not vary by U.S. location, and therefore regional living cost differences, is is not a good comparison among states but it useful in comparing regions within states. Within Alaska, for example, the Kusilvak census district in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta had 38 percent of the local population at or below poverty while Skagway, in Southeast Alaska, had only 4 percent.

Alaska doesn’t fare so well in comparing children aged 0-17 in poverty, however. The state’s percentage of children living in poverty was 13.6 percent compared with a national average of 19.5 percent. Ten states had lower percentages of children living in poverty than Alaska.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE LOW, DESPITE DROP IN JOBS: State labor economists are puzzled about the state’s unemployment rate, which is at historic lows at a time when Alaska’s economy is in mild recession. The measure is of the number of Alaskans receiving unemployment benefits. It is typically used as a measure of employment activity and the overall economy. One logical explanation, economists say, is that Alaskans losing jobs in the state are migrating to the Lower 48 to regions with strong economies, particularly the U.S. northwest.

ILISAVGVIK COLLEGE OFFERS FREE TUITION FOR ALASKA NATIVE STUDENTS: Ilisagvik College in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), a tribal college that has support from the North Slope Borough, is making a name for itself with innovations in education, the latest being offering tuition-free courses statewide to Alaska Natives ages 18 or older. Ilisavgvik offers a traditional academic curriculum but is strong in workforce and professional development programs and has a large set of on-line course offerings.

One other innovation at Ilisagvik is the sending of vocational faculty to the borough’s smaller communities to teach specialized multi-day short courses in programs like carpentry and electrical technology. Besides traditional degree programs the college has a big offering of occupational certi cations.