The roll-on/roll-off ships that TOTE Maritime Alaska sails between Anchorage and Tacoma, Washington no longer depend on diesel fuel. The company is the first in the world to convert its entire fleet to run on liquified natural gas. MV North Star completed the dual-fuel commissioning period with the US Coast Guard this spring, and MV Midnight Sun completed commissioning in 2022. TOTE describes the ten-year conversion process as the company’s second biggest investment into the Alaska trade since its inception in 1975.
totemaritime.com

Allure Day Spa in downtown Anchorage closed last October after thirty years in business, yet the prime real estate on Fifth Avenue won’t be vacant much longer. Visit Anchorage is moving its tourism information bureau out of the Historic City Hall on Fourth Avenue and into the former spa. (The Log Cabin will remain, however.) Historic City Hall is considered a strong candidate for the Anchorage Library System to restore a Downtown branch.
anchorage.net

The joint Alaska Native corporation for four villages on the Middle Yukon River has a new Anchorage office. Gana-A’Yoo, Limited moved into the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) building in Midtown to accommodate a doubling in size in the last couple of years. Although rooted in the Interior, Gana-A’Yoo has regular need for banking, bonding, and transport services available in Anchorage. ASRC’s building is newer and more spacious than Gana-A’Yoo’s previous Anchorage offices at Benson Boulevard and LaTouche Street, shared with Northern Skies Federal Credit Union. The first-floor suite was previously occupied by ASRC’s Alaska Growth Capital subsidiary, which moved to the JL Tower next door to share offices with its new owner, McKinley Capital Management.
ganaayoo.com

A groundbreaking ceremony in July formally began construction of Credit Union 1’s (CU1) thirteenth branch, its first in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The site on Railroad Avenue near the junction of Parks Highway and Knik Goose Bay Road affords convenient access in downtown Wasilla and for the extensive suburbs south of Wasilla city limits. “We’ve been keeping an eye on the Mat-Su Valley for a long time and had many member requests to build a branch in Wasilla over the years,” says CU1 President and CEO Mark Burgess. The board of directors approved the expansion last October. Spark Design created plans for a 10,000-square-foot building, and construction is being led by Cadence General Contractors. The Wasilla branch is scheduled to open in the fall of 2024.
cu1.org

Construction began this summer on the first bunkhouses for Trident Seafoods’ new processing plant at Captains Bay in Unalaska. The buildings join a 1,500-foot dock that was installed last year. The site is slated to replace a plant in Akutan, northeast of Unalaska Island, as Trident Seafood’s largest facility and the largest of its kind in North America. The Captains Bay plant was originally scheduled to open in 2027, but a one-year delay in groundbreaking at the factory itself pushes the completion date until 2028. CEO Joe Bundrant cited concerns about sluggish demand and low prices. An executive with Trident, Stefanie Moreland, notes that the delay does not change the company’s long-term plans.
tridentseafoods.com

For the first time since 2001, a Single Process Module (SPM) is being fabricated in Alaska for use on the North Slope. Delta Constructors was contracted to assemble the approximately 425-ton module. The company counts more than 100 direct jobs involved in the contract; most recent modules have been fabricated on the Gulf Coast or in Asia. The 150-foot-long, 24-foot-tall SPM will be sealifted to the Slope next June.
deltaconstructors.net

After serving pies across from Merrill Field since 1944, Peggy’s Restaurant closed for good in August. Nancy Burley, who bought the business in 1988, says her family urged her to retire, now that thirty-five years of working nearly every day has taken its toll. The property on East Fifth Avenue has been sold, but Burley’s daughter says the business itself may re-emerge as a food truck.