Ground broken for long-awaited Gateway Visitor Center

Tourism is huge in Alaska, responsible for $3.9 billion in direct spending in 2022-2023. It supported 48,000 jobs in 2023 and generated over $157 million in revenue for the State of Alaska in 2023 through permits, fees, tickets, and taxes.

To harness all that the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (MSB) has to offer visitors into one spot, the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), with support from the MSB Assembly and Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, recently broke ground on the new Gateway Visitors Center.

“It’s exciting, especially since it has been a long road to get this new center,” said Casey Ressler, President and CEO of the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The flagship project — a fully designed 9,400 square-foot visitor center that will be located on the Glenn Highway west of Palmer and near the Matanuska Lakes State Recreation Park — will become the first stop for visitors coming from Anchorage. The new center will give visitors their first taste of Alaska’s wild beauty, provide interpretive information for travelers, link them to attractions to visit for more in depth experience, and showcase the natural beauty of the area. The center will also be a destination in its own right, offering interesting activities and learning experiences.

“The idea is for it to be a community center, not just a visitor center,” said Ressler, who said there will be classroom for residents to use for training, workshops, naturalist programs and cultural presentations. “It is really a place where we can tell our stories, show visitors what to see, what to so, and even spur the economic development.”

In 2020 the Mat-Su Convention and Visitor Bureau commissioned a market analysis study that demonstrated that there is great potential to attract more in-state and out-of-state visitors to the Mat-Su Valley and promote the area as a vacation destination, as well as allow improved outdoor access and provide increased educational and outdoor amenities for area residents.

Planning has been underway for the center since 2010, and after a feasibility study identified a viable location, a 49-acre site for the center was secured with a $1 million state capital appropriation made in 2014. Ressler said that though there were economic challenges that sometimes made funding difficult, the Borough’s support was vital as it provided $6 million for the facility from a federal economic development grant.

The facility is designed by Gary Wolf, of Wolf Architecture of Palmer, and last fall, bidding went out for the project, with Steppers Construction Inc. awarded the contract to build the new center.

While there may some challenges with the uncertain state of the construction industry, which has been hit with escalating materials costs and workforce recruitment challenges, Ressler assures that everything is ahead of schedule and on budget, and expects the facility to be completed by the end of the year.

The center will house exhibits and information kiosks for visitors doing local planning for recreation and sightseeing, Interpretive Display Area that highlights partners. There will also be a coffee stand, administrative offices for Mat-Su CVB, public restrooms and WiFi, along with potential for retail space.

“It will represent the entire Mat-Su Borough, not just Palmer or Wasilla. We are really excited about this will bring not just to the visitor industry, but what it will add to the Borough.”

For more information and design concept, please visit www.matsuvalleyvisitorcenter.com.