The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE. 

The Anchorage Alaska Temple is getting bigger — again. But this time, the resizing comes with a complete reconstruction and a slight trade of locations.

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that the Anchorage temple will be reconstructed. The significantly larger temple will be built on the same property — but relocated to where a currently used meetinghouse now stands.

And during construction, which is expected to start in early 2024 and be completed by summer 2026, the existing Anchorage Alaska Temple will remain open and operational.

The announcement and an accompanying exterior rendering were published Monday, Jan. 23, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, with the report adding that dates for the public open house and dedication will be announced closer to the completion date.

Enlarged a second time

The announced project is not the first enlargement for the Anchorage Alaska Temple, which was one of the first “smaller temples” identified in late 1997 as the Church doubled its number of temples worldwide and surpassed a total of 100 operating temples at the end of the 20th century.

After nine months of construction, the 6,800-square-foot Anchorage Alaska Temple was dedicated in January 1999 — and operating for four years before being closed for renovations and expansion.

The 10-month project increased the building’s size by 75% to its current 11,937 square feet, including the addition of a second ordinance room, offices and new dressing rooms. Five years after the original dedication, the temple was rededicated and reopened for instruction and ordinance work.

With the latest announced reconstruction, the temple’s square footage will increase to approximately 30,000 square feet — an increase of more than 150% from the temple’s current size and well more than four times its original size. The Church announced the temple’s new design would be a standard two-room, 40-seat plan.

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.