Work under way on old Palmer depot

PALMER -- Work is under way on the $180,000 facelift at the old Palmer railroad depot and city council members took a keen interest in the project during a report from public works director Rick Koch at the council's Tuesday meeting.

The railroad depot has a history of renovation and for the past three decades has served as Palmer's community center. The original building was the depot manager's apartment and an office and the large room that now serves as a great hall for community functions was once a warehouse.

This latest facelift will convert much of the passenger waiting area to accommodate larger bathrooms, make acoustic improvements to the great hall and add windows that can be opened to let heat escape. The council's attention was focused mostly on the great hall and on access to the building. The city has contributed $70,000 to the project and the state of Alaska has contributed $110,000.

Among the suggestions at the meeting were adding a storage room for folding chairs and tables, changing the roof so ice doesn't build up at entrances and hiding the exposed electrical conduit in the walls.

Council member Brad Hanson suggested that Koch get more estimates while the project is under way, and even suggested that the city should consider spending more money.

"If it costs $20,000 or $30,000 more we need to do it . . . We need to do it right this time," Hanson said.

Mayor Jim Cooper wanted to know if anything was going to be done about storing chairs and tables and if anything would be done about ice dams that build up over the entrances and drip down to ice up the doorways.

"We don't have any specific plans, but we do recognize that [the ice] is a problem," Koch said, adding that a heat tape and gutter arrangement might make a difference, but that structural changes to the eaves of the roof, such as adding insulation, are probably out of the question. Improvements that aren't in the contract could be done later with the public works maintenance budget, Koch said.

Since the project's inception, the council has talked about the depot remodel as a quality-of-life improvement for Palmer. After the meeting, Koch said he expected the council to be interested and involved.

"There's probably a million dollars worth of stuff you could do to make it nicer -- the bottom line is that once we get done, everyone will be happy with the improvements," Koch said.

Another person who's excited about the job is Joey Ehmann. Ehmann and his brother, Butch, own E & E Construction, the company remodeling the building for the city.

"It's an old building that I spent a lot of time in growing up," Ehmann said, "It's not a big job, but we're excited to be doing the work."

E & E Construction isn't primarily a remodeler, but the company was responsible for the remodel of the Koslosky building in downtown where the Ehmanns -- and most of the council members -- once shopped for back-to-school clothes as children.

"It's kind of neat to be able to go back into a building and keep it alive," Ehmann said.

At the end of the meeting, Cooper requested that interested council members pitch in with suggestions for a grand opening for the depot either during Palmer Pride Days or Colony Days.