The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008

Construction workers use a man-lift to put
the final touches on the windows at the top of
the 10-story Linny Pacillo Parking Garage.
as a venue for the ACVB (Anchorage
Convention and Visitors Bureau), according
to Larry Cash with RIM Architects.
The $107 million construction
project in Downtown Anchorage is on
budget and on time, with more than
85-95 percent of the project completed,
with the building considered substantially
complete according to Reid,
a principal at RIM Architects, the
group responsible for the Dena’ina
Civic and Convention Center design.
“The site work is now ongoing with
the change in the season to summer.”
The project budget includes the
land cost, building design, construction,
streetscape, financing costs,
management, art, some of the Egan
renovation work, as well as an operating
reserve, F Street redevelopment,
furnishings and equipment, said Kent
Crandall of Rise Alaska, the project
manager for the center.
The new center’s construction and
operations are funded by a 4 percent
increase in the hotel/motel bed tax.
The convention bureau operates the
facility and books its events.
Developers and the convention
bureau are finding that Anchorage has
a lot to offer as a year-round city both
to its residents and visitors.
Reid said “These new amenities
give visitors more to see while they
are here, and offers local business a
chance to grow.”
Coming soon to the downtown
skyline is the 596,000 square foot Augustine
Energy Center on the corner of
6th Ave between G and H streets. The
21-story building will have 365,000
rentable square feet with 14,566 square
feet of rentable retail space. Owned by
NANA Development Corp. and Augustine
Land LLC, construction will
be completed by Neeser Construction
Inc. and is designed by kpb architects
and LMN Architects.
Supporting the downtown Anchorage
construction are improvements to
the access streets E and F. Along this
corridor the new multi-use Crystal
Plaza is planned in accordance with
the Anchorage Comprehensive Plan.
The Crystal Plaza seeks to build a
mixed-use structure similar to what
the city’s comprehensive plan recommends,
according to Chris Schutte,
with Destination Downtown.
“Most of the design guidelines are
to develop a mixed-use structure with
ground level retail and pedestrian
amenities, to integrate parking, provide
a rooftop garden, put high density
residential units on the top, and use
massing and stepping techniques that
can provide wind protection, maximize
sunlight and minimize shadows,
said Schutte.
The cornerstone to all of these projects
is a plan to further enhance Town
Square, an open air multi-use gathering
place that is set in the center of the
Downtown Anchorage right on the
doorstep of the Alaska Center for the
Performing Arts.
The plan calls for more shrubs and
greenery, a summer fountain that will
double as a skating rink in the winter,
tiling, brickwork and additional seating.
In effect the changes to downtown
Anchorage will draw the focus a block
more to the south where the new
Dena’ina Convention Center will become
the meeting place of choice, according
to Cash with RIM Architects.
“We believe that all of these changes
will make Anchorage a more vital and
cosmopolitan city,” said Cash.
Rob Stapleton is a longtime Alaskan
reporter and photographer.