laska Industrial Hardware (AIH), one of Alaska’s oldest businesses, expanded its brand to South Anchorage this spring by opening its eighth location in the state.

AIH is owned by Bering Straits Native Corporation, which purchased and remodeled the building formerly occupied by Sam’s Club at 8801 Old Seward Highway in Anchorage and opened for business on April 1. The 152,620-square-foot building serves as a retail store, a fulfillment center, and headquarters for the company, which has been in business since 1959.

“I think they made a good decision with what they did by reusing an existing structure,” says Dave Gage, project manager for UNIT COMPANY. “They filled it up and utilized every square foot.”

Work began in October 2020, just one month after winning the bid. UNIT COMPANY and its subcontractors worked on a tight clock. AIH needed to move everything out of its fulfillment center on Viking Drive near Ship Creek by the end of March to make room for the new occupant, the Food Bank of Alaska.

“The holdover rent was steep and the Food Bank, obviously, had a clock of their own to maintain,” says AIH President and CEO Terry Shurtleff. “But we handed the keys to them right on schedule.”

Shurtleff credits Anchorage-based general contractor UNIT COMPANY for successfully implementing a number of tasks: keeping track of people coming in and out of the construction site amid COVID-19 concerns, sorting out the coordination of all twenty-one subcontractors, and keeping the $3.5 million project on schedule.

“There was really no room for delays,” says Shurtleff. “Even with all the supply chain issues going on, we were able to get all the materials that we needed and put it all together between UNIT and their subs—Vannoy in particular. They did a fantastic job.”

Photo courtesy of AIH

Photo courtesy of AIH

All interior lighting was replaced with Lithonia LED fixtures, says Vannoy project manager Bobby Mikulecky. The lighting controls consisted of a networked lighting control system, which included a combination of wired and wireless controls. Working on a large-scale renovation added a unique level of challenge into the project, he says.

“When you’re trying to blend the existing electrical system in with the new design, it leads to a few extra surprises along the way,” says Mikulecky. “Our superintendent was a large portion of our success, with his abilities to manage and keep ahead of his crew while staying on schedule.

“Our crew did amazing as well. They really stepped up for us,” he says.

Shurtleff agrees. He says Vannoy’s work was the key to getting all the materials to Anchorage on time. Had those LED fixtures been delayed, even by a few weeks, Shurtleff says it would have caused a ripple effect on the entire timeline.

Photo courtesy of AIH

Shurtleff also highlights the work of Chinook Fire Protection, which replaced the entire fire suppression system. Even though Chinook was a subcontractor under AIH, Gage was pleased with how efficiently UNIT COMPANY subcontractors and Chinook worked together.

“Coordinating who gets to work first is 90 percent of what I do as project manager,” says Gage. “It’s another level of communication you have to go through. We have 150,000-plus square feet of space and all of us are trying to work in the same spot at the same time.

“Everyone takes their priorities and rolls with it,” he says.

UNIT COMPANY handled limited structural demolition and raised steel to create new office space. The two-story structure houses administration, accounting, and management.

Photo courtesy of UNIT COMPANY

“What excites me about this location is that it puts us in position to evolve as retail evolves,” says Shurtleff. “Retail is evolving very quickly. You’ve seen so many small businesses go out of business. I don’t think we are completely Amazon-proof, but we needed to position ourselves to remain as Amazon-proof as we can be.

“People can buy on the internet, but typically when you need something we sell, you don’t have time to wait because people have a job to do,” he says.

Considering the company has been around since 1959, Shurtleff says AIH has had generations of craftspeople shop in its stores.

“A lot of our customers tend to think AIH is as big as the store they shop in, even though we are a statewide operation,” Shurtleff says.

“We have the ability to support a homeowner and a multi-billion-dollar megaproject on the North Slope,” he says. “Large or small, we can take care of you.”