Steppers Construction of Wasilla is low-bidder on new Gateway Visitors Center project

Steppers Construction Inc. was the apparent low bidder on a contract to build the planned Gateway Visitor Center for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which will be a focal point for tourist information and marketing for the region.

The 9,400-square-foot building will be located on the Glenn Highway west of Palmer and near the Matanuska Lakes State Recreation Park. Planning has been underway for the center since 2010, and a 49-acre site for the center was secured with a $1 million state capital appropriation made in 2014.

Steppers was one of 10 bids submitted for the project with a bid amount of $6.397 million, which was the lowest offer and in the range of the $6 million cost the borough had estimated. The second-lowest bid was $6.558 million from HS Construction.

Other offers were higher, with the high bid at $9.99 million, from AMES 1 LLC. The borough has $6 million in hand for the facility from a federal economic development grant.

The lower bid came as a relief for Gary Wolf, of Wolf Architecture of Pamer, who is designing the facility. Wolf said he was worried that minimum bids might be much higher in the uncertain state of the construction industry, which has been hit with escalating materials costs and workforce recruitment challenges.

The recommendation from the borough’s procurement department must still go to the Mat-Su borough assembly for final approval. Hopes are for the new center to be in construction in late spring.

The center will house exhibits and information kiosks for visitors doing local planning for recreation and sightseeing, although some funds must still be raised to pay for those, said Casey Ressler, president and CEO of the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau, which will also have offices in the new building.

Tourism is a fast-growing business for Mat-Su, both in summer and winter.