Arkansas Report

Northwest booms as employment climbs by 600 jobs per month

By Candy McCampbell

They’re running and gunning in northwest Arkansas, a hotbed of growth fueled by the headquarters of Wal-Mart, J. B. Hunt and Tyson Foods and the arrival of second- and third-tier suppliers.

“It has been spectacularly booming,” says Kathy Deck, interim director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Employment in the area is growing by 600 jobs a month and more than 13 million sq ft of commercial projects have been announced, she says.

Look for high single-digit job growth there this year, but only about 1% for the state as a whole, Deck says.

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After Hurricane Katrina Mississippi received emergency federal funds to rebuild the two U.S. Highway 90 bridges over Biloxi and St. Louis bays. The two projects, at a combined cost of $604.8 million,  represent the first design-build and two of the largest bridge projects MDOT has ever tackled. 

“We still have some emergency repairs to do on Hwy. 90 in Harrison County, and we will be letting four contracts The northeast corner will be the next hot spot, says Lloyd Webre III, president of Associated Builders and Contractors’ Arkansas chapter. It’s home to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, in addition to the cities of Blytheville, Osceola and Marion, which are all in a growth mode.

Economic developers have lobbied successfully to get new investment and expansions at existing industries, says Keith Wetsell, general manager of Razorback Concrete in West Memphis.

Among them are the Plum Point 665-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Osceola and continued growth of the Nucor Steel mill near Blytheville.

This year will be better than last and “2008 will continue to be strong in that part of the state,” he says.

Arkansas State is currently building a new biotech research facility and new dormitories, says Scott McDaniel, estimator and director of marketing at Ramsons Inc. of Jonesboro.

In fact, school construction is prevalent across the state, exemplified by Arkansas’ 10-year, $2 billion plan to overhaul its schools.

Still unknown is the impact of Fayetteville shale, a seam of natural gas that runs along the I-40 corridor in central Arkansas, Deck says.

It has already brought major growth to Conway and Searcy as gas companies and contractors relocate to the area, she adds.

Production is in the early stages and will require infrastructure and the rebuilding of area highways, she said.

A University of Arkansas study last year indicated an economic impact of $2.3 billion, 10,000 jobs created and more than $100 million in taxes by 2008 from the development of the gas field.

Following are a few of the largest projects currently under construction in the state:

St. Mary’s Mercy Health of Northwest Arkansas, Rogers, Ark. J. E. Dunn Construction Group of Kansas City, Mo., is starting down the home stretch on this $90 million, 200-bed hospital project that includes an emergency department and areas for cardiology, orthopedics, neurology and outpatient care.

The poured-in-place concrete building will cover 376,000 sq ft, said Vance McMillan, senior project manager.

Sheetrock is going up on the third and fourth floors of the seven-floor building, he said.

The top floor will be a shell for another 48 beds.

Each patient room will have a computer station and there will be individual work areas for the nurses, replacing traditional nursing stations.

The exterior is a mix of brick, cast stone accents, curtain walls and native stone. The native stone is also used on an adjacent 1,000-sq-ft chapel.

The job includes a heliport and a 15,000-sq-ft central energy building. The project should be completed by January 2008.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Patient Tower, Little Rock. The new $150 million patient tower at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock is a replacement for the existing hospital that includes three major facilities.

The 11-story patient tower, at 558,000 sq. ft., will have 240 patient rooms and emergency department, imaging department, clinical lab and an interventional center that will combine surgery, radiology and cardiovascular services. A helipad will be on the roof.

Next to it is the Psychiatric Research Institute, at 100,000 sq ft. It will provide psychiatric research and education as well as in-patient and out-patient care.

Below half the patient tower is a four-level parking deck, at 420,000 sq ft, with space for 1,000 cars. The other half of the tower is built on grade, said Scott Smith, project manager with general contractor CDI Contractors Inc. of Little Rock.

The project will be completed in spring 2009.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art of Bentonville, Ark., gets its name from a pair of bridges connecting the buildings that will be constructed into the hillsides on both sides of a creek-split ravine.

The $50 million complex will include 100,000 sq ft of gallery, library, meeting and office space, a 250-seat indoor auditorium, outdoor event spaces, sculpture gardens, walking trails and a below-ground parking deck for 250 cars, says Bob Workman, executive director.

Contractors Linbeck Group LP of Fort Worth and Nabholz Construction of Conway, Ark. (joint venture), were awaiting final documents in mid-March to start work.

Plans call for re-processing rock removed from the site for road base or backfill and for re-using cut trees in buildings or other on-site needs. 

Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, is founder of Crystal Bridges.

The project should be completed by fall 2009.

Westside Wastewater Treatment Plant, Fayetteville, Ark. Brasfield & Gorrie of Birmingham went out to an open site west of town to build the new Westside Wastewater Treatment Plant in Fayetteville, Ark., which includes 27 structures.

When completed, the $59.9 million facility will include an operations building, inlet facilities, biological units, final clarifying tanks and storage units, said Tom Marcum, project manager.

Construction requires 30,000 cu yds of concrete, more than 13,000 ft of ductile iron pipe and 3,000 tons of reinforcing steel.

The four biological units are the size of oval-shaped football fields and the four clarifying tanks are 110 ft. in diameter with 15-in-thick walls that take 32 weeks to pour, he says.

Completion is scheduled for May 2008.

Washington Regional Medical Center expansion, Fayetteville, Ark. A hospital expansion must be planned almost to the second, especially when one department has to move to make way for construction of the expansion of another department.

The $37.4 million, 200,000 sq ft expansion of Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, Ark., involves adding a fifth floor to the main hospital, expanding the emergency department, adding a new cafeteria and kitchen, and constructing a separate administrative services building.

Jim Minor, project manager with general contractor Baldwin & Shell Construction of Little Rock, says detailed planning paid off for the fifth floor addition, where the contractor had to work with hospital personnel to shut down rooms on lower floors while construction took place.

Similar carefully-orchestrated moves will occur when the hospital pharmacy moves into the new ER department.

“It takes some highly-coordinated deadlines,” Minor says.

Completion is expected in February 2008.

Rogers High School, Rogers, Ark. The $38.2 million, 325,000-sq.-ft. expansion and renovation of 1960s-era Rogers High School includes 45 new and 40 renovated classrooms, seven new and 10 renovated labs, a 2,000-seat main gym and a smaller practice gym, art room, media center, renovated auditorium with fly loft, lecture hall, library and commons area.

Brent Farmer, director of operations for general contractor Flintco Inc. of Springdale, Ark., says the project came with some challenges, such as low clearance heights and connections with new mechanical systems and multiple finished floor elevations.

Additions are being built with concrete, masonry and steel. Completion is expected in August 2008.

Arkansas Travelers’ Dickey-Stephens Stadium, North Little Rock. The Arkansas Travelers opened their season in March in a new $28 million stadium.

Its proximity to the Arkansas River brought a surprise, says Charlie Barnard, project manager with Hensel Phelps Construction Co. The stadium was built by a joint venture of Hensel Phelps and East-Harding Inc. of Little Rock.

Excavation for the field unearthed waterlogged soil conditions, he says. The contractor solved the problem by digging out extra dirt and laying an extra 6 in of rock.

Setting a 48,000-lb light pole required a 700-ton crane to reach over the building, lift and hold the pole plumb while the concrete set, he says.

The contractor used specialized forms to pour concrete risers for the 5,500 infield seats, which took about 90 days. Other forms were used on the 12- to 14-ft outfield walls.

About 10,500 cu yds of concrete and 595 tons of steel were used to build the stadium.

Van Buren High School, Van Buren, Ark. Crossland Construction Co. of Columbus, Kan., finished Phase 1 of this $25.1 million high school expansion in January and immediately started Phase 2.

The current work, measuring about 65,000 sq ft, includes a new auditorium, some classrooms and “a lot” of mechanical space, allowing greater noise control, project manager Kent Woodson said.

The earlier part, started in August 2005, includes 130,000 sq ft of classrooms, gym, cafeteria and commons.

Built on a sloped site, the gym is below level, with mezzanine-like halls on three sides that lead down steps to more than 2,000 individual stadium-style seats.

The seats are on precast concrete risers, with dressing rooms and coaches’ offices below.

The 20-ft-tall gym walls are poured-in-place concrete and backfilled.

The project has 700 tons of steel, 320 tons of joists and 20,000 tons of rebar.

Completion is expected in July 2008.