Benton County leads area in school construction

Educational needs are fueling construction in Northwest Arkansas.

New high schools for both Rogers and Bentonville are the largest construction projects under way in Northwest Arkansas — totaling some $41 million for the two.

The Rogers School District plans to take bids this spring for construction of a new, $22 million, 277,000-SF Rogers High School building. The two-story structure will be located on a 70-acre site at the intersection of South Dixieland and Perry roads.

The new building will house some 1,700 11th- and 12th-graders who will begin attending classes by August 2001. Crafton Tull & Associates of Rogers has been working on an architectural design for the building.

“It’ll be our flagship — state of the art with a lot of technology in it,” says Barney Hayes, director of school services. The new building will contain a gymnasium that seats 2,200 and an auditorium that seats 1,200. Construction will be funded primarily through second-lien bonds, says Hayes.

The old high school, which was built in 1961 at 1114 S. Mountie Blvd., will be used as a school for 10th-graders instead.

• Foundation work began last fall for a new $19.2 million high school in Bentonville. The two-story, 235,000-SF building on Southeast “J” Street will accommodate 1,500 students. It is scheduled to be finished by August 2000, says Bruce Jones, director of personnel for the school district.

Jones says the new building will alleviate crowding at the school district’s only junior high school.

“It’ll spread our kids out,” he says. “We’re at maximum capacity at the junior high.”

The Bentonville School District has about 6,325 students. The old high school on Tiger Boulevard will be converted into a second junior high school.

Hayes notes that the new school is “as big as a Wal-Mart store if you lay it flat on the ground.” Hayes says the construction will be funded by a reallocation of bonds.

Nabholz Construction Co. is the contractor for the Bentonville project. The building was designed by architects from the firm of Hight-Jackson & Associates in Rogers.

• Also, the Rogers School District recently began construction of a 5,000-SF classroom addition to Grace Hill Elementary School. The $250,000 building is scheduled to be completed by June.

Fayetteville School District

Construction is scheduled to begin in early February on two identical, 100,000-SF middle schools in Fayetteville. The schools, valued at a total of $12.8 million, should be completed by May 2000, says Alan Wilbourn, a spokesman for the Fayetteville School District.

One of the schools will be located on Arkansas Highway 45 adjacent to Vandergriff Elementary School. The other will be built on Rupple Road. The new schools, which will house grades six and seven, are expected to relieve crowding in the city’s two junior high schools and 10 elementary schools. Fayetteville has a total of about 7,800 students

• A $4.4 million project to renovate Fayetteville’s eight older elementary schools is almost complete, says Wilbourn. The project includes all the city’s elementary schools except Vandergriff and Holcomb.

• A $300,000 project to renovate the school district’s administration building is expected to begin this summer.

Springdale School District

The state’s fourth-largest school district — with about 10,000 students — is preparing for growth with plans for expansion by the fall of 2000.

The Fayetteville architectural firm of Wittenberg Delony & Davidson is currently working on a design for Springdale’s 10th elementary school, which would be located in the Har-Ber Meadows subdivision on the west side of town.

The proposed one-story, 65,000-SF building would cost about $5 million to construct, says Ron Bradshaw, assistant superintendent of Springdale schools.

If approved, Bradshaw says, construction may begin by June and the building could be completed by the fall of 2000.

Bradshaw says the new building, which would accommodate about 600 students, will help relieve overcrowding in the district’s other nine elementary schools.

• The Springdale Bulldogs’ booster club has raised money to construct a 30,000-SF indoor practice facility for athletics. The building may be completed by the fall of 2000.

• The school district’s bus shop is being converted into an alternative education facility, and the maintenance facility is being transformed into concessions and restrooms for the football stadium.

University of Arkansas

Several construction projects are under way on the University of Arkansas’ campus in Fayetteville.

The main UA projects include:

• The renovation of the 170,000-SF, six-story Arkansas Union building is the largest project currently in progress on campus. It is estimated to cost between $15.2 million and $16 million. The building is scheduled to be completed by July, but a two-story, 38,000-SF addition across Garland Avenue from the Union won’t be finished until August, says Tom Rufer, director of the Arkansas Union.

The project includes renovation of 112,500 SF of space in the building.

• A $8 million, 210,000-SF intermodal transit facility next to the Arkansas Union is scheduled to be completed by late February. A bridge will connect the Union to the four-story parking garage. Construction of the parking garage and transit facility began in September 1997. The garage will have three floors of parking (with spaces for 600 cars) and a top floor on the Garland Avenue level for transit buses. Kinco is the contractor for this project, also. A new entry road from Stadium Drive should be completed by April 23.

• Phase I construction of the 48,100-SF, four-story Science Tower (estimated at $7.5 million) is scheduled to be completed by May. Construction began in October 1997. The building will house research labs. Crossland Construction Co. of Rogers is the general contractor. Phase II (estimated at $4.1 million) will complete the shelled space on the top two levels, but funding has yet to be secured for that phase.

• A $9.3 million renovation of the 104,000-SF Science Engineering building is currently on hold until funding can be secured.

• On the UA’s wish list is also a 275,000-SF dormitory planned for the parking lot on the west side of Garland Avenue between Maple and Cleveland streets. The building, which would accommodate 612 students, is estimated at $33 million. At this point, no funding for that project is available. Jay Hunneycutt, associate director of contract services, says the campus will ask the UA Board of Trustees at its April 9 meeting for permission to interview architects for the project.

NorthWest Arkansas

Community College

At NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, work is soon to begin on one project and another was recently completed.

• Construction began last March for a 17,700-SF, three-story student services wing next to the Central Education Facility at NWACC. The building will house a snack bar on the first floor, offices on the second floor and four classrooms on the third floor, says Jim Lay, vice president of finance and administration. The $1.3 million project was completed in January.

• During its current session, the Arkansas General Assembly will consider whether to fund $2.9 million toward a $3.8 million science and allied health addition for NorthWest Arkansas Community College. The two-story, 28,000-SF building will house classrooms for science and allied health, which includes training for EMTs, paramedics, physical therapy technicians and nurses. Construction could begin by spring and be completed in about 15 months.

“We’re out of space,” says Lay, noting that the college now has 3,600 students. “That’s why we’re not going anywhere. Until we get the space, we can’t expand.”

Lay says the college also wants to build a $20 million, two-story, 225,000-SF library and classroom building, but funding for that project has yet to be secured.

John Brown University

No major construction projects are in progress at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, but construction is expected to begin in early 2000 on an $8 million science building and a $7.5 million campus community center, says Adriane H. Carr, a spokeswoman for JBU.