It's nearly there. A recent walkthrough of the new Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center showed a 50,000-square-foot convention floor - part dirt and part cement-several nearly finished meeting rooms and a lot architecturally pleasing empty space.
“This is meant to showcase the Convention Center District of downtown Anchorage,” said Mayor Mark Begich. “At the same time that this is opening, the Egan Center will be getting a renovation to upgrade it to the standard of the Dena'ina Center.”
The $107 million construction project in Downtown Anchorage is on budget and on time, with 85 percent of the project completed, according to a written release.
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 center features much open space, broad windows facing the south and east, an 18,000-square-foot executive meeting room for 90 people and a huge ballroom. Color accents that mimic the seasons of Anchorage.
It also houses four service elevators big enough to lift a Hummer from the ground floor up.
Begich said some convention organizers will have to pay full price for the center facilities, others will pay just for the meals and service.
The new center's construction and operations are funded by a 4 percent increase in the hotel/motel bed tax. The Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau operates the facility and books the events.
The Dena'ina Center is competitively priced, said David Ramsuer with the mayor's office.
“Anchorage is actually very competitive for group meetings when compared with other destination cities nationally,” he said. “ACVB tracks the cost of items from lodging to parking to coffee service and equipment rental, and we stack up very nicely on a cost basis.”
The city's 12 percent bed tax is just below the national average, and there's no sales tax. A gallon of coffee costs between $25 and $28 in Anchorage, compared to a high of about $54 per gallon in San Francisco. Most cities charge between $34 and $45 per gallon, Ramsuer said.
The Dena'ina Civic And Convention Center is scheduled to open in October. Construction on street and sidewalk upgrades on Sixth and Seventh avenues is set to start in mid-April.
Rob Stapleton can be reached atrob.stapleton@alaskajournal.com.
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