(Feb. 22, 2001) Where Nike missiles once blasted skyward in Cold War test firings, city officials Wednesday night praised the special athletes of the world and dedicated a swanky new warm-up and banquet room at Kincaid Park.

Anchorage Junior Nordic League skiers listen to Jim Posey, the city's director of Cultural and Recreation Services, as he talks about the remodeled and expanded Kincaid Park Chalet during a dedication ceremony Wednesday night.

The $1.1 million expansion and renovation of the park chalet -- used as a missile bunker in the 1960s and '70s -- is complete. The chalet will open to the public March 4, the start of the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games, said Gerry Walton, acting manager of the city Division of Sports and Recreation.

''This is turning swords into plowshares,'' a beaming Walton said, marveling that beneath the new heated tile floor of the main room is a concrete launch pad.

The building was first expanded in the mid-1980s. The newest renovation, paid for through federal funds channeled for the Special Olympics, began in the fall. During the Games the athletes will use it as a warm-up and gathering place.

The expansive look of the enlarged main room, with its pitched, wood-slatted ceiling and banks of windows on three sides, drew praise from citizens and politicians.

''It's spectacular,'' said Joe Anders, a petroleum engineer and ski coach. ''It's fantastic, and we got it basically for free.''

Anders was one of about 200 people, including about 50 uniformed youngsters of the Anchorage Junior Nordic League, who heard Mayor George Wuerch anticipate the spotlight the Games will train on the city.

''This is truly the time for the world to see Anchorage and how we care for the environment,'' Wuerch told the crowd.

Jim Posey, director of the city Department of Cultural and Recreational Services, spoke of the ''million-dollar view'' out the windows.

There was nothing to see in the evening darkness, but the view on a clear day encompasses Mount McKinley and dozens of mountains from the Chugach Range in the east to Mount Spurr across the water to the west.

The city intends to profit from that view, Posey said. The municipality will rent the main room to private parties for special events more often than it does now.

When the room is used privately, skiers and others will use the renovated back room or, if that's rented, the other former missile house on the site, known as ''the bunker.''

Rates to rent the room will rise, Posey said. The Anchorage Assembly is expected to vote soon on a new rental-rate structure he recently approved for public facilities, he said. The hourly rental rate for the chalet's main room should be between $60 and $100, he said.

People have been calling his office asking about the chalet, Posey said.