The new store puts in one place a retail front for GCI products sold in Homer — long-distance telephone, cellular phone, Internet and cable television services. Customers can try out cell phones, see cable services on large-screen TV sets and try out the Internet, Lima said. Local technicians can also set up equipment like cable TV control boxes in the maintenance shop.
“The new building layout will provide a new area for customers to demo the products,” Lima said.
The footprint of the building is a small rectangle set at a slight angle to a larger rectangle. Its facade consists of many windows to bring in natural light. The siding is natural cedar planking, with steel accents along the roofline.
“We wanted to bring something on the high-tech verge while retaining the local character,” Lima said.
Burkhart-Croft has designed similar buildings for GCI in Alaska. The new Homer store will have extensive landscaping that will meet or beat city codes, Lima said.
“We like to do aesthetically pleasing building designs for the community,” she said.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong @homernews.com.
The 2,147-square-foot store will include a retail area, offices, a workshop and storage yard, said Carolyn Lima, manager of corporate properties for GCI. Access is off Greatland Street, the same access to Save-U-More. GCI’s Homer store is now on Pioneer Avenue in a building owned by Refuge Chapel. The new store is being built and will be owned by Mariners Triple Net, an Anchorage company, and leased to GCI. Nyce Construction of Kenai is the general contractor. The building is designed by Burkhart-Croft Architects of Anchorage and is expected to open in mid-July.
We encourage you to add your comments. To prevent spam, comments with links are manually approved during the normal business day. Please be respectful of others with your comments, bear in mind anyone in the community may be reading your comments.
