SprawlTag first covered this Anchorage site on November 22, 2023. At the time, the former Sam’s Club at Tikahtnu Commons had recently become a new Costco Business Center.The site’s history goes back well before the Costco conversion. In 2002, the area was still mostly wooded land near highway ramps in northeast Anchorage. By 2007, trees had been cleared and the land was being graded for the future retail center.
The former Sam’s Club later became part of a much larger shopping district. By 2021, the building sat inside a completed retail road network, with wider intersections, turn lanes, access roads, and large parking lots around it.
By 2024, the same big-box shell had found a second life as Costco Business Center. The timeline shows the full arc of the property: wooded land, retail construction site, Sam’s Club, closed big-box store, and finally a new Costco format serving Anchorage.
In September 2002, the future Tikahtnu Commons area was still mostly wooded land beside the highway ramps in northeast Anchorage. The roads were already in place, but the retail footprint had not arrived yet, making this a clean “before” view of the land before big-box stores, parking lots, and the future Sam’s Club site reshaped the area.
By May 2007, the future Tikahtnu Commons area had moved from wooded land into heavy site preparation. Cleared trees, exposed dirt, grading work, and large earth-moving patterns show the early buildout taking shape beside the highway ramps, setting the stage for the big-box retail center that would later include Sam’s Club and, years after that, Costco Business Center.
In March 2021, the former Sam’s Club building was firmly part of the Tikahtnu Commons retail landscape, surrounded by snowy parking lots, nearby stores, and highway ramps. The image is useful because it shows the big-box shell before its Costco Business Center conversion, capturing the site during its in-between era after Sam’s Club had closed but before the building found its next major retail use.
By June 2024, the former Sam’s Club had completed its second act as Costco Business Center. The building remained the same big-box shell, but the surrounding site looked fully active again, with delivery areas, busy parking fields, and the mature Tikahtnu Commons road network wrapped around it. The contrast with the 2002 view is huge: what began as wooded land near highway ramps had become a major Anchorage retail hub.
Last Updated on May 11, 2026 by F.E.M