Industrial Storage Predicament Triggers Innovative Adaptations in Warehouse Spaces

In the bustling city of Anchorage, the once vacant warehouse building that once housed Sears on Old Seward Highway and Dowling Road has seen a significant transformation since April 2022. Time Equities, Inc. purchased the building, marking the beginning of a new era for the space.

Multiple companies, though unnamed in available search results, have since taken up residence in the large warehouse. One of these companies is Advanced Supply Chain International (ASCI), which has also made headlines with its recent developments.

Under the leadership of CEO and co-owner Christine Hopkins, ASCI has become the Alaska affiliate of American Chain of Warehouses, Inc., a nonprofit service-matching organization. This move has enabled ASCI to expand its services, now providing logistics support for both military and civilian agencies in Alaska.

ASCI's primary focus is on optimizing inventory levels, a strategy that has resulted in a reduction of BP's storage footprint. By doing so, ASCI helps clients reduce the amount of inventory that must be warehoused, freeing up valuable space. This approach has led to an improvement in space utilization since 2021, suggesting that the warehouse shortage in Alaska may be easing up.

The demand for warehouses in Anchorage is high due to its strategic location, with easy access to the airport and port. This demand is a positive sign of growth in Alaska's economy, as manufacturers and merchants seek to establish a presence in the city.

However, the warehouse shortage in Anchorage is not due to a lack of demand but rather the limited available land and high cost of construction. In fact, no significant new warehouse space has been built in Anchorage in the last five years, with an estimate of about 1 million square feet of industrial property.

One of the companies taking advantage of the limited warehouse space is Amazon, which is expected to add to the roughly 4,500 warehouse workers in Anchorage. Amazon is turning the former Sears warehouse into a sorting facility, a move that is expected to put the 88,000 square feet of the warehouse back to productive use, lifting the entire economy.

ASCI's operations are not limited to Anchorage's warehouses. The company tracks more than 100,000 individual SKUs (stock keeping units) at any given time, with a typical warehouse holding about 14,000 SKUs. ASCI consolidates inventory bound for the North Slope in Anchorage first to avoid costly mistakes on the North Slope.

The former JC Penney warehouse on Arctic Boulevard in Midtown Anchorage also sold to an out-of-state buyer in the last year, but the plans for the building are unclear. Despite this, the warehouse shortage in Alaska remains a concern, with approximately 12 to 13 million square feet of industrial property in Anchorage and a vacancy of between 2 and 3 percent.

The recent supply chain disruptions, as mentioned by Alyssa Rodrigues, director of Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, highlight the importance of efficient warehouse management. With companies like ASCI and Amazon taking up residence in Anchorage, it seems the city is well-positioned to navigate these disruptions and continue to grow.

Industrial Storage Predicament Triggers Innovative Adaptations in Warehouse Spaces