Photos: Inside the new Fireweed Business Center

A new office tower going up in Midtown Anchorage is making the most of its location -- right by the Chester Creek greenbelt.

With panoramic views in every direction, the eight-story Fireweed Business Center being built by the Alaska Native corporation Cook Inlet Region, Inc. will offer tenants and their employees unobstructed sightseeing of Mt. McKinley, Mount Susitna, the Chugach Range and Cook Inlet. But its builders said the structure will also take advantage of its location to save money.

The building, taking shape at 725 E. Fireweed Lane, will employ high-tech windows that dim automatically to cut glare and reduce summer solar heating, computer-controlled LED interior lights, a space-age gel for insulation and light diffuser panels made with microscopic chips of silicon. A new type of heat exchange system will combine with building's exterior to save as much as 30 percent of the cost to operate it over its lifetime, according to CIRI Director of Real Estate Chad Nugent.

READ MORE: New building using energy-efficient materials takes shape in Midtown Anchorage

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