Jim and Sandy St. George started their namesake company, St. George Construction, in 1991 in the northwestern Alaska village of Kotzebue. Within five years, St. George Construction significantly expanded services, changed its name to STG Incorporated (STG), and moved central operations to Anchorage.

From there St. George became somewhat of a legend in rural, western and Arctic Alaska. A master-planer and problem-solver, Jim and his team at STG always figured out a way to get difficult tasks in difficult to reach remote Alaska locations done and expanded into other fields of expertise. In September 2013, STG Incorporated and its subsidiaries Alaska Crane and Terra Foundations were acquired by Calista Corporation, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation.

Jim's expertise helped companies anticipate and face the challenges of the State of Alaska complex geotechnical site developments. STG's expertise now extends to winter, river and coastal logistical and project support, barging and equipment transport, set up and execution of work in remote areas, permitting and compliance, power plants, tank farms, wind projects, powerline interties, mine development, ultra-remote site pioneering, geotechnical solutions, personnel deployment and aviation supported projects that run from their Anchorage office.

Now, somewhat retired St. George finds more time for other things. He and his wife remain active with flying, golfing, fishing, working out, skiing and planning international trips. He continues to do some consulting work through St. George Consulting when he has the time to fit it in. Gained from 30 years of managing projects totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, his expertise helps companies work safely, efficiently and productively.

One of Jim's more recent priorities was commandeering a major addition to his hangar at the Lake Hood Seaplane Base in Anchorage. Lake Hood Seaplane Base is a state-owned seaplane/floatplane base located three nautical miles southwest of downtown Anchorage. Operating continuously and open to the public, Lake Hood is the world's busiest seaplane base, handling an average of 190 flights per day. It is located on Lakes Hood and Spenard, next to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The base has an operating control tower and during the winter months the frozen lake surface is maintained for ski-equipped airplanes.

The 14,000 sq. ft. Wulik-DeLong LLC hangar's name is derived from one of his all-time favorite places where he worked for a couple of years in the northwestern Brooks Range of Alaska situated along the Wulik River in the DeLong Mountain of the North Slope Borough. It is during the end of June that caribou crowd these hills by the tens of thousands.

His introduction to Schweiss doors came through some research and looking at other Schweiss hangar doors. His existing hangar had an older Schweiss 40' x 18' bifold door that has since been retrofitted with new motors and converted to liftstraps.

"The thing that attracted me to Schweiss doors, in addition to having one on my old hangar, was that I really liked the hinges, spherical bearings and grease fittings on the hydraulic doors. I didn't want to lose any headroom because we bring in turbine Otters on amphibs and would never have been able to get them in the hangars without the clearance of hydraulic doors. In addition to that Schweiss has been around a long time and your doors are second to none. I wasn't going to cut quality on the hangars by putting some cheap doors in," said St. George.

The new hangar, that now abuts to the old one, was revamped with an addition of two larger hangar bays. Another old wooden structure was demolished to make room for the new hangar additions. All of the hangar bays have access to a 5-ton or a 1-ton overhead crane that Jim leases out for use to other pilots. It was because of the cranes that he decided to install two new hydraulic doors, partly to gain headroom and due to some airfield line of sight flight height restrictions at Lake Hood. The hydraulic doors are 65' x 18.7' and 40' x 18.7' and engineered and windrated for 130 mph. The largest bay is 70' wide by about 80' deep.

St. George provided a lot of his general contractor expertise along with Whalen Construction of Anchorage to upgrade his three-bay hangar. Hangared inside is his 1971 180 Cessna on Aerocet 3400 amphibious floats that he can retrofit with Federal wheel skis for use in the winter. He honed much of his flying skills since arriving in Alaska in 1977. Mark Ivy at Ivy & Co. Architects in Anchorage played a major role in the overall architectural design flair that St. Georges' hangar presents.

Decorative windows adorn the outside of each hangar door to enable maximum flow of available light into the hangar. The larger hangar door supports 30,000 lbs. with the one-inch thick glazing and four-inch insulated metal panel cladding.

"We put a bunch of high-quality heavy glass on the doors because it has southern exposure. For us natural light inside the hangar is nice. We upsized the hydraulics with some pretty big rams and a bigger pump on the big door," noted St. George.

The radiant heat hangar with LED lighting has 6-inch insulated panels on the roof and 4-inch insulated panels on the walls. Much of the hangar is still a work in progress and will have a mezzanine, kitchenette and other amenities.

"When we did the install, Schweiss was super helpful in terms of setting up the pumps and hydraulics. One evening we called you guys at 8 p.m. your time and got an answer. The most valuable thing to us was your support to help us through the issues during odd hours. Dave Schweiss came up last Spring and looked over the doors and showed me a couple of tweaks I could do," said St. George.

Whalen Construction Project Manager, Ehren Strahn, said the install went quite easy. Their company has ordered Schweiss bifold and hydraulic doors in the past. They specialize in Varco Pruden pre-engineered steel buildings and insulated metal panels.

"The popular style Schweiss strap lift doors are pretty common in and around Anchorage. The doors are well constructed and not difficult to install. Varco Pruden is very familiar with Schweiss doors and the loading specs," noted Strahn.

St. George Consulting

Jim St. George of St. George Consulting applies common sense and innovative thinking to complex infrastructure construction projects in the State of Alaska. Gained from 30 years of managing projects totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, his expertise helps companies work safely, efficiently and productively.

He founded and guided two companies that specialize in rural Alaska construction projects and construction equipment - STG Incorporated and Alaska Crane, Ltd. Both are now subsidiaries of Calista Corporation, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation. After the purchase of his companies, he joined Calista's executive team and served as Director of Business Development, overseeing the development of the Donlin Gold project. He is a board member and former president of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. He and his wife, Sandy, live in Anchorage. They have two adult sons - a writer and an engineer.

His network of connections - and understanding of how to get work done in remote areas of the state - offers value that only comes from extensive, hands-on experience. Jim's practical approach and deep understanding of the issues benefit Native corporations, mining and prospecting companies, utilities and Natural resource companies.

Jim offers consulting services for infrastructure and energy projects specializing in power plants, tank farms, wind projects, powerline interties, mine development, ultra-remote site pioneering, geotechnical solutions, personnel deployment and aviation supported projects. Engaging Jim can be done on a retainer, contractual or hourly basis, by visiting his website at: https://jimstgeorge.com or by email at: jimstginc@gmail.com. He can also be contacted at P.O. Box 111692, Anchorage, AK 99511. Ph. (907) 227-0657.

STG Incorporated

STG is a rural Alaska specialty contractor, with over 27 years of building infrastructure around the state. They specialize in creating strong partnerships with project stakeholders to solve unique problems, all while delivering exceptional value to their clients and the communities they serve. All of their work is guided by their mission to support the sustainable development of rural Alaska through delivering superior construction services and management while providing the highest levels of professionalism, innovation, safety standards, and quality craftsmanship.

Brennan Walsh took over for St. George as Corporate President of STG. He began working at STG nearly two decades ago when he was still in college. As outgoing president of the state's only full-service construction association for commercial and industrial contractors.

After the purchase of his companies, Jim St. George joined Calista's executive team and served as Director of Business Development, overseeing the development of the Donlin Gold project. He was a board member and past president of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska.

As head of STG, St. George used his expertise to help companies anticipate and face the challenges of the State of Alaska complex geotechnical site development. STG's expertise extends to winter, river and coastal logistical and project support, barging and equipment transport, set up and execution of work in remote areas, permitting and compliance, power plants, tank farms, wind projects, powerline interties, mine development, ultra-remote site pioneering, geotechnical solutions, personnel deployment and aviation supported projects.

STG's Terra Foundations, is the most trusted and most experienced specialty pile foundation installation company operating in rural Alaska today. Since 2002, this team of highly skilled project managers and pile drivers ensure solid foundations for bridges, walkways, schools, homes, and other structures throughout the most remote reaches of the state by providing consultation, construction management, procurement services, and doing what they do best, specialty pile driving.

STG US headquarters are at 901 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1200, Seattle, WA. Ph. (206) 623-1986. Their Alaska primary office is located at 11710 South Gambell Street, Anchorage, Ph. (907) 522-9004. They also have offices in New York and London. https://stgincorporated.com. Alaska Crane is located at 11900 South Gambell Street, Anchorage, Ph. 907-522-9004. https://alaskacrane.net

Whalen Construction

Whalen Construction of Anchorage, Alaska, established in 2005, is a general contractor, remodeling contractor, categorized under Home Builders. They currently employ a staff of up to 15 and rank in the top 37 percent of 14,813 Alaska licensed contractors.

Established by owner, Patrick Whalen, they specialize in Varco Pruden pre-engineered steel buildings and insulated metal panels, retail, new construction, accessibility design and construction, warehouses, vertical addition office buildings and multi-family new construction units of 26-plus units.

The business is located at 1153 East 74th Ave., Anchorage, Alaska.
Phone 907-349-1060.