Cook Inlet Tribal Council seeks builder for $36.5 million east Anchorage center

Cook Inlet Tribal Council is seeking a design-build firm, which both designs and builds, for the K'teya Cultural Center in east Anchorage, a building meant to combine child care for 80 children, a gymnasium, and showers mainly for unhoused people under one roof. The request for proposals sets a $36.5 million budget. Proposals are due Nov. 16 at 5 p.m., and written questions by Oct. 19. Bidders must register with [email protected] to receive amendments.

The request for proposals does not say where the money comes from, and records do not establish whether any of the $36.5 million has been awarded or is still being sought. Tribal council leadership was not heard from on the funding source.

The center would sit on a 5.178-acre parcel the tribal council owns off Northway Drive, across from its headquarters and beside its Clare Swan Early Learning Center. Using the building as a community center requires a Municipality of Anchorage site plan review, estimated to take nine to 12 weeks; records do not show whether an application has been submitted.

The contract cites federal rules including 2 CFR Part 200, Davis-Bacon wages and Build America, Buy America, but a USAspending search found no federal awards to the tribal council described as K'teya or a cultural or community center since October 2020. Those rules govern federal grant spending, prevailing wages and U.S.-made materials.

The budget is based on a bigger building than the one described for bidders. The request describes about 32,600 square feet, while PacWest Consulting Group's July estimate behind the $36.5 million figure prices a two-story, 39,900-square-foot building at $915 per square foot, including furnishings and equipment. PacWest also priced buying and expanding the Arctic Rec Center for $29.1 million to $33.7 million, but recommended new construction for its flexibility and its connection to the council's campus.