The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008
The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008
The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008
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Construction workers use a man-lift to put<br />
the final touches on the windows at the top of<br />
the 10-story Linny Pacillo Parking Garage.<br />
as a venue for the ACVB (Anchorage<br />
Convention and Visitors Bureau), according<br />
to Larry Cash with RIM Architects.<br />
<strong>The</strong> $107 million construction<br />
project in Downtown Anchorage is on<br />
budget and on time, with more than<br />
85-95 percent of the project completed,<br />
with the building considered substantially<br />
complete according to Reid,<br />
a principal at RIM Architects, the<br />
group responsible for the Dena’ina<br />
Civic and Convention Center design.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> site work is now ongoing with<br />
the change in the season to summer.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> project budget includes the<br />
land cost, building design, construction,<br />
streetscape, financing costs,<br />
management, art, some of the Egan<br />
renovation work, as well as an operating<br />
reserve, F Street redevelopment,<br />
furnishings and equipment, said Kent<br />
Crandall of Rise <strong>Alaska</strong>, the project<br />
manager for the center.<br />
<strong>The</strong> new center’s construction and<br />
operations are funded by a 4 percent<br />
increase in the hotel/motel bed tax.<br />
<strong>The</strong> convention bureau operates the<br />
facility and books its events.<br />
Developers and the convention<br />
bureau are finding that Anchorage has<br />
a lot to offer as a year-round city both<br />
to its residents and visitors.<br />
Reid said “<strong>The</strong>se new amenities<br />
give visitors more to see while they<br />
are here, and offers local business a<br />
chance to grow.”<br />
Coming soon to the downtown<br />
skyline is the 596,000 square foot Augustine<br />
Energy Center on the corner of<br />
6th Ave between G and H streets. <strong>The</strong><br />
21-story building will have 365,000<br />
rentable square feet with 14,566 square<br />
feet of rentable retail space. Owned by<br />
NANA Development Corp. and Augustine<br />
Land LLC, construction will<br />
be completed by Neeser Construction<br />
Inc. and is designed by kpb architects<br />
and LMN Architects.<br />
Supporting the downtown Anchorage<br />
construction are improvements to<br />
the access streets E and F. Along this<br />
corridor the new multi-use Crystal<br />
Plaza is planned in accordance with<br />
the Anchorage Comprehensive Plan.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Crystal Plaza seeks to build a<br />
mixed-use structure similar to what<br />
the city’s comprehensive plan recommends,<br />
according to Chris Schutte,<br />
with Destination Downtown.<br />
“Most of the design guidelines are<br />
to develop a mixed-use structure with<br />
ground level retail and pedestrian<br />
amenities, to integrate parking, provide<br />
a rooftop garden, put high density<br />
residential units on the top, and use<br />
massing and stepping techniques that<br />
can provide wind protection, maximize<br />
sunlight and minimize shadows,<br />
said Schutte.<br />
<strong>The</strong> cornerstone to all of these projects<br />
is a plan to further enhance Town<br />
Square, an open air multi-use gathering<br />
place that is set in the center of the<br />
Downtown Anchorage right on the<br />
doorstep of the <strong>Alaska</strong> Center for the<br />
Performing Arts.<br />
<strong>The</strong> plan calls for more shrubs and<br />
greenery, a summer fountain that will<br />
double as a skating rink in the winter,<br />
tiling, brickwork and additional seating.<br />
In effect the changes to downtown<br />
Anchorage will draw the focus a block<br />
more to the south where the new<br />
Dena’ina Convention Center will become<br />
the meeting place of choice, according<br />
to Cash with RIM Architects.<br />
“We believe that all of these changes<br />
will make Anchorage a more vital and<br />
cosmopolitan city,” said Cash.<br />
Rob Stapleton is a longtime <strong>Alaska</strong>n<br />
reporter and photographer.