Denali Project leases space in 188 Northern Lights

If you opened your Sunday edition of the Anchorage Daily News, you may have seen an ad from the Denali Project in which they proudly announce their permanent home for its Anchorage headquarters -- 188 West Northern Lights in midtown. That's right, the building that since its summer completion has sat disturbingly empty is finally getting its first tenant! To backtrack, earlier this year during Sarah Palin's AGIA bidding, BP and ConocoPhillips created a joint venture known as the Denali Project which was their own pitch for the governor to compete with TransCanada and the very few other bidders for AGIA. During the conference announcing the venture, the people at Denali announced an Anchorage headquarters as one of the numerous incentives that Alaska would get with this Denali Project. One has to wonder though, what was plan B? headquarter in Sitka? Of course they'll headquarter in Anchorage! Anyways the company is leasing 40,000 square feet which according to Petroleum News will be just enough for some 175 employees. Agreements on leasing were made in late October. While it's great to see such a deserving building receive a tenant, there's also some irony as well considering who the tenant is. In 2006, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported on some skepticism and concern about both the then infant JL Tower and 188 WNL possibly relying too much on the prospects of a natural gas line for an economic boom to fill their towers lease space. Overall, it's going to be great to see 188 WNL finally have some of its interior lights on at night. You can watch that happen with this live view of the tower.