In 1985 post Pipeline Fairbanks was a changing place. Oil money had made a huge impact on our town and there were new homes, businesses and services going up all over town. Today we will look at one of the bigger enterprises of that era that has come and gone just like a lot of the others of those days.
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner December 8, 1985
OPENING OF CENTER DELIGHTS LARGE CROWD
The water fountain was not spraying, the decorative streetlights were not hung and the smell of fresh baked goods were not permeating the air for the opening of The Center Saturday, but that didn’t matter much to Chris Zink.
Zink had WhirlyBall on his mind. The game combines basketball, jai-alai and bumper cars. Participants scoop up a ball with what looks like a miniature lacrosse stick and try to fling it through a 15-inch goal, all the while driving an electronic “WhirlyBug.”
“It’s an exciting game,” Zink said, stepping off the court after his second game. “It’s fun, but you have to get used to the cars because they have real weird controls.”
“They’re sort of like racing cars,” said Zink’s younger brother, Mike.
Besides WhirlyBall, the facility on Airport Way between University Avenue and Market Street now features the The Picture Show, a set of three movie theaters; Rollertech, a roller-skating rink; Big Patty’s a 1950’s-style café; AlaskaLanes, a bowling alley; The Court, a gift store; Hollywood Video, a movie rental store; Chartbeat, a music store; and various smaller concessions.
All features but The Roof, a nightclub planned for the second floor, opened for business Saturday. The crowd in the hallways rivaled the Tanana Valley Fair and teemed with the latest in teen coiffures, but the management stressed it’s a facility for all ages.
“This is family entertainment. It’s not limited to any certain demographic,” said general manager Judy Brown.
The look inside is pastels, chrome, and neon. The clean lines extend to the employees, who wear polo shirts, white pants and deck shoes, or some other well-scrubbed outfit.
“That’s a prerequisite of working here,” Brown said.
Entertainment and food areas fan out like spokes on a wheel from the center of The Center, which features the pastel colors that highlighted the 1984 Olympics.
Each game area picks up two pastel colors. For example, Big Patty’s theme restaurant features sea spray, light blue, and mauve.
“Diners in the ‘40’s were done in black and white, but in Fairbanks, black and white is just too cold and dark,” Brown said.
Employees of the $15 million Center worked feverishly to meet Saturday’s opening date and Brown answered questions on 90 minutes of sleep. There remain a few bugs to be worked out.
“The restaurant ran out of food,” said Larry Carpenter, one of the owners. Service at Big Patty’s was stopped temporarily because of the crush of patrons and some equipment failures. “The exhaust fan can’t handle the grills,” said Carpenter, who was far happier with being overloaded than if no one had showed up.
“It will look a lot better,” Carpenter said, just before being called away to find his receiving agent to take in a load of bowling balls.
A few minutes later Carpenter was flitting about the WhirlyBall court with fellow investors Joe Hayes, a republican trying to become governor, and kris Lethin.
Fairbanksan Dennis Wise is the fourth partner in ownership of the facility. Vern Frol is a fifth partner in the operating company, the AREO partnership.
A dedication for the new facility is planned for later this month.
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner July 11, 1986
Carpenter talks about the future of The Center
The Churchill Group announced Thursday that it plans to sell Interior Energy Corp. and use part of the proceeds to help solve financial problems at The Center.
Carpenter is president and chief executive officer of the company which owns Fairbanks Entertainment Center and Interior Energy, a local fuel distributor since 1978. The sale is scheduled to close July 18, at which time Carpenter will disclose the amount “up in the millions” and the byers, who he says are local investors and “well-known and substantial people.”
The sale of Interior Energy will help reduce The Center’s debt by several million dollars, Carpenter said. The $20 million Center has had financial problems since it opened las December.
A long-term loan agreement with Mortgage Money Corporation of Irvine, Calif. Fell through, forcing Carpenter and his partners to default on a $10,875,000 construction loan from Home Savings & Loan of Anchorage and other contractor payments. Millions of dollars in liens that were filed against The Center since have turned into lawsuits.
Carpenter said an Outside pension fund may provide the long-term financing he needs. He anticipates having the loan in place by the end of summer.
Loans are not the company’s only troubles. Carpenter said he overestimated the market by 20%. He believes the economy has slipped 20% in past months due to falling oil prices, cutting into projected profits by as much as 40%.
Still, Carpenter’s faith in the future of The Center is unwaning. He’s sure business will increase this winter.
“I’ve lived here 20 years. I love the place,” he said.
Carpenter is president and chief executive officer of AREO Corporation, a partnership; the Churchill Group and its wholly owned subsidiaries: Fairbanks Entertainment Center and Interior Energy Corporation.
AREO’s board of directors removed Carpenter on June 10 and replaced him with another partner, Dennis Wise. Carpenter was re-hired two weeks later.
As president, Wise eliminated West Coast bands and the appetizer bar. Carpenter reinstated both.
After his announcement Thursday, Carpenter took a few minutes to knock down rumors that have been circulating since The Center opened its doors officially Dec. 7.
“The Center has tremendous mystique for Fairbanks,” he said. “It has more rumors per square foot than anyplace in town.”
Friends have told Carpenter he just returned from Anchorage where he filed for bankruptcy. Not true he says.
Someone asked Carpenter recently about rumors The Center is “sinking into the ground.” Not true, he says.
The pilings on which The Center stands have not shifted on iota, nor has a corner of Alaska Lanes sunk since the bowling lanes opened.
Note: AERO Corp. did file for bankruptcy and the company was reorganized into the Fairbanks Entertainment Center. Later the new administrator of FEC Rodger Floerchinger, stated in 1988 that the two biggest mistakes made were the WhirlyBall and the fancy electronic sign in front of the building which cost over $3,000 a month in rental fees and over $4,000 a month in electricity. Of course, those would have taken a back seat to the enormous debt that was plaguing them from the very beginning.
The Center closed March 31st, 1991, being in business for 5 ½ years, and was taken over by Sears. Today it is a U-Haul storage facility. The Center was once the place to make memories, now it is a place to store them. This nostalgic History Nugget has been brought to you by the Fairbanks Igloos of the Pioneers of Alaska.
