WASILLA — An Alaska limited liability firm claims two retail development projects planned for Wasilla will create some 2,250 full-time jobs and have a direct economic impact of nearly $52 million annually.
A project overview prepared by Meritage Development Group LLC for the city of Wasilla said the 450,000-square-foot Gateway Crossing and 420,000-square-foot Creekside Town Square are in the final phases of entitlements, design and engineering.
Creekside Town Square tenants will include Sportsmen's Warehouse, an Applebee's restaurant and an Allen and Peterson Cooking and Appliance Center, said Jim Barnett, an attorney for Jack and Dawn Barrett of Wasilla, owners of the two projects. The other tenants will include large national commercial establishments that already have a presence in Anchorage, Barnett said. Creekside is to be built first, followed by the Gateway project, he said.
Wasilla officials said they were told both projects would be complete by 2009.
While the names of the firms are similar, Meritage Development Group LLC in Wasilla is not affiliated with Meritage Development Group in Aspen, Colo.
In the overview, the Wasilla developers said both projects are expected to create approximately 2,250 full-time jobs, based on a study completed by Vestar Corp. of Tempe, Ariz.
The jobs will pay an average of $10 an hour, with total salaries adding up to $45 million a year, according to the overview. In addition, based on estimated annual sales of more than $194 million, and a sales tax rate of 2.5 percent, Wasilla will see sales tax revenues of $4.8 million, property taxes of $1.7 million and a total direct economic impact of nearly $52 million, developers claim.
According to state labor economist Neal Fried, there were only 3,313 jobs in retail in the entire Mat-Su in 2006, and most of them were part-time.
Meritage said in its project overview that planning and acquisition of the two sites began five years ago, prior to the start of the Parks Highway expansion project. Meritage Development Group currently controls more than 100 acres of Parks Highway frontage, including an area along the two-mile main commercial corridor through the city.
Meritage plans to develop Creekside Town Square first, with Gateway Crossing serving to contain the overflow from the Creekside project. Meritage described Creekside as a lifestyle center that will accommodate large box retailers, medium box retailers and small shops.
The Gateway Crossing development will sit on top of a hill, where it can be seen from two major traffic arteries from up to three miles away, the overview said. The developers also argue that Gateway will attract big box retailers, with small shop space available throughout the project.
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