Business/Economy

Beverage distributor Odom Corp. to build $40M Anchorage facility

Beverage distributor Odom Corp. will build a $40 million warehouse and office facility in an industrial area near West International Airport Road, consolidating its Anchorage operations, the company said Tuesday.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for this fall and construction will take about two years, Executive Vice President Bill Odom said at a press conference Tuesday. As part of the construction, the Municipality of Anchorage has committed $500,000 to upgrade a stretch of Electron Drive that runs by the property, which sits just south of a Chugach Electric power plant.

"There's cycles to the economy in Alaska, we've been through good times and bad times, ups and downs," Odom said. "They say it's on its way down, but it'll turn around, it'll come back, and then we'll have a building to handle that business."

Bellevue, Washington-based Odom, which distributes beer, wine, liquor, soft drinks and other beverages, is moving from its other Anchorage locations to make business more efficient. Right now, its operations are split between several buildings.

The city is piggybacking on Odom's project through what's called an "improvement of public place" agreement. As a result, fixing up the road will be much cheaper for the city than the estimated $1.25 million to $1.5 million it would have cost to do the work on its own.

Chris Schutte, director of the city's Office of Economic and Community Development, said the stretch of Electron Drive "needs to be brought up to municipal standards."

Schutte said traffic on the road has already increased because of the Chugach facility and because of nearby connections to other businesses, "and that road is not anticipated to be able to withstand the additional truck traffic that will come with the Odom facility."

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That $500,000 for road improvements will come from excess bond capital, Schutte said.

Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz used Odom's plans as an example of businesses that aren't backing down from investment in a challenging time for the state's economy.

"This is a time for us to be bullish on the state," he said. "If you believe in where Alaska is going, if you have confidence in what Anchorage can be, now is the time to invest. … This is a statement of what we can do, why we shouldn't be afraid of the current economic predicament, because it's really an economic opportunity."

Odom echoed the sentiment.

"Frankly, maybe building now, you might get a better deal," he said. "There may be some contractors out there that are a little hungry."

Odom Corp. has about 400 employees in the state, and about 350 of those are in Anchorage. The company isn't currently planning to hire more.

The new building will be comprised of about 200,000 square feet of warehouse space, Odom said, with additional space for offices.

The beverage distributor bought the 37-acre lot — which used to be a concrete and asphalt transfer site — two years ago. The company will also sell or lease part of the lot.

Odom currently leases space at 1800 Ship Ave. and another connected building, and owns property at 240 W. First Ave., which it will look to sell.

Annie Zak

Annie Zak was a business reporter for the ADN between 2015 and 2019.

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