It looks like the prison is going to be put out at Point Mackenzie. Sounds like a good place for it. I attended the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Dec 19 to hear Borough Manager John Duffy and Borough Economic and Development Director Dave Hansen give a presentation on the economic impact of the prison.
This prison is a $330,000,000 project. That is the largest construction project in Alaska since the pipeline. They hope to break ground by this coming summer and have the prison on line in 2010. The prison will house more than 2100 inmates and require about 600 direct jobs and more than 500 indirect jobs.
Most interesting to me is the prediction of needing about 420 homes to house the workers. Although these homes will not be purchased until the prison is on line in 2010 it is my belief that the anticipated impact of the prison will cause people to buy up most of our excess inventory under $300,000 by the end of the year.
