Burned Palmer building rebuilt

EOWYN LeMAY IVEY/Frontiersman

PALMER -- The Scenic View offices building has been rebuilt and reopened, and is now one of the most talked-about structures in Palmer.

Less than a year after a fire destroyed the building, Alaska Cooperative Extension and building owner Excel Physical Therapy are celebrating the reopening of the Scenic View offices on Chugach Avenue in Palmer with an open house. The event is slated for 2-4 p.m. Wednesday. Everyone is welcome, refreshments will be served and tours of the building will be available.

When the structure burned last October in an electrical fire, the Cooperative Extension temporarily moved into the nearby University of Alaska Fairbanks research center. During the past months, however, the Scenic View offices has been rebuilt and is attracting a great deal of attention.

Described by some as innovative and attractive and others as a "hideous monstrosity," the modern-looking facility was built on the same foundation shape but features distinctly different angles and colors from the aging building it replaced.

Whatever people think of the outside, Cooperative Extension staff members say they are glad to be back in their old location and are eager to show off their new office space.

"It's a wonderful feeling," said extension office coordinator Mickie Woodward. "It's a very nice facility. It's spacious. It's light. It has air conditioning … We've had nothing but good comments from people who have walked in."

And while the building may look different on the outside, inside visitors will find some familiar offerings. The Cooperative Extension once again has its publication racks full of timely information on everything from preserving food and gardening to pest control and the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program, as well as many other subjects. And during the open house, staff will be on hand to talk about the extension's 4-H program.

Also Wednesday visitors will find Excel Physical Therapy offering osteoporosis screening, posture exercises, and grip strength testing.

In addition to showing off the new facility, the cooperative extension and physical therapy business will have a chance to reconnect with the people they serve.

"We did lose a lot of our clients because we lost our data bases," Woodward said of the fire. "We're slowly building those back up. That's why we're inviting the public."

She said visitors will be able to sign up for information on classes, newsletters and other cooperative extension information.

Another goal of the open house is to remind people that the cooperative extension is alive and well.

"A lot of people thought we had closed up," Woodward said. In fact, the extension never missed a day. The building burned on a Saturday and the next Monday the staff was on the job and soon had set up new offices in the university building. And through it all the extension's telephone number has remained the same -- 745-3360.

The physical therapists also continued business as usual during the reconstruction of the building, working out of their Wasilla clinic on Bogard Road.

In addition to Excel Physical Therapy and the Cooperative Extension Service, there is other office space in the Scenic View building that is available for lease.

The building is located at 809 S. Chugach Ave., on the corner of Chugach and Fireweed, in Palmer.