Creekview Plaza 49

Owner: Cook Inlet Housing Authority

In spring of 2015 UNIT COMPANY was awarded the construction of two new apartment style buildings located in East Anchorage that are part of the Creekside Town Center.  Creekview Plaza 49 offers independent senior rental housing for residents aged 55 years and older, with low to modest household incomes. In addition to the 49 apartments, the complex includes nearly 7,000 square feet of commercial space at the street level.

The units are located in two "sister" buildings - one building is "mixed-use" with 4 retail spaces at the street level and twenty-six, one-bedroom apartments on the second and third levels. The second building offers seventeen, one-bedroom units and six, two-bedroom units. All 49 apartments are fully accessible and have sight and sound equipment to assist those seniors with sight and/or hearing impairments.  These units were built to meet 6 Star Energy rating standards and each apartment has Energy Star certified appliances.

The project included the largest geothermal well system constructed in the city of Anchorage.  Due to an unknown flowing artesian layer the geothermal bore field had to be redesigned.  This pushed this scope way out of sequence forcing us to perform it in late winter and working around trades that would not have been present if the work was performed when initially intended.  We used sonic drilling to install these well which requires the use of a lot of fluid that is shot through the drill pipe under pressure while the drill pipe is vibrated at high frequency while spinning.  This technique had only been used once by our drilling contractor and it was a drilling technique that was new to Alaska.    The geothermal well system use of this means of heating and cooling a building can cut energy bills by 30 to 40 percent and reduce the need to burn fossil fuels.  

Working with the Community
UNIT, working in association with Cook Inlet Housing Authority and Alaska Craftsman Home Program, developed a Job Training Program, administered by UNIT which develops and trains local unskilled residents. Training is in the fields of general carpentry, electrical and plumbing. Most of the training is in the field and includes a minimum of 20 hours of classroom training which focuses on basic job safety, math, construction drawing interpretation and proper use of common tools and materials.