Mat-Su’s planned Gateway Visitor Center now on “short list” for federal funding

The Matanuska Susitna Borough is now on the short list for award of a federal grant to build the long-planned Gateway Visitor Center on the Glenn Highway.

The U.S Economic Development Administration notified the borough and the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau Sept. 28 that the grant application submitted in late 2020 was chosen for “further consideration,” meaning that it is on a short list for being awarded.

“If the Gateway Visitor Center application is awarded, a ground-breaking and construction would provide a huge boost to our industry,” Bonnie Quill, director of the Mat-Su visitors’ bureau, said in the group’s newsletter published Oct. 20.

“As we develop and promote exceptional visitor experiences, the Gateway center would be a world-class facility to showcase our destination,” in Mat-Su, Quill said.

“With the Arctic Winter Games coming to the borough in 2024 this couldn’t be better timing,” she said.

The federal government requires the borough to hold a public hearing on the project prior to any award of funds, and a hearing is scheduled now for the Nov. 18 borough assembly meeting.

That will be after the Nov. municipal election, and with a new mayor and assembly in place.

The facility would be at Mile 36 on the Glenn Highway just past the Parks Highway interchange and on the Glenn as it heads toward Palmer. The property is the former Homstead RV Park, Quill said.

Planning for the facility has been under way for 12 years.

The total cost of the center is estimated at $8.37 million and if the $6.7 million federal grant is awarded the borough would contribute $1.67 million in a required local match.

Local funds for most of this have been identified and set aside by the borough, most of it from $1.6 million in proceeds from the sale of property at the site combined with funds left over from a state grant for project design and money from right-of-way payments by the state in the Glenn Highway redevelopment.

The state has supported the project over several years, with a $1 million grant for purchase of the property in Fiscal Year 2014 and $1.2 million for building and site design in FY 2015.

The remaining $156,000 needed for the local match will come from future visitor bed tax collections, Quill said.

The borough owns the land and will own the building, she said, with management to be provided by the visitors’ bureau and operating expenses to be paid by the bureau.