Chaffee Crossing receives national development award

Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (FCRA) Executive Director Ivy Owen revealed at a Thursday (Aug. 16) press conference that Chaffee Crossing is the winner of the 2012 Base Redevelopment Project of the Year Award from the Association of Defense Communities (ADC).

Owen said the achievement is “the highlight of my 43-year career.”

The conference took place in Fantasies at the Fort in the Chaffee Crossing base development and was followed by the monthly FCRA meeting.

Expanding on his comments after the press conference, Owen pointed to the award as it rested in the center of the boardroom table.

“That’s where it’s going to stay, and every time we walk in here, we’ll be reminded that we have set the bar in 2011 for the rest of the base communities in the United States,” Owen said. “We’ve set the bar for ourselves, and put a lot of pressure on us to perform this year, and it’s exciting that that’s happening now. So I just can’t say enough thank-you’s to the board and the officials and to all the local communities, who’ve supported us.”

Owen also thanked Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders, who oversaw Chaffee Crossing for six years prior to Owen’s tenure, which began in the fourth quarter of 2007. Sanders called the award a “big, big deal,” and a “magnificent recognition.”

To FCRA staff and trustees, Sanders said, “It is certainly well deserved.”

The award, presented to FCRA on Aug. 6 at the ADC Annual Conference in Monterey, Calif., recognized “the overall efforts of a base redevelopment community or local redevelopment authority whose successful efforts to redevelop a former military installation is a model for closed base communities around the country,” according to the ADC official release.

“Our country is fortunate to have the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority as a leader in helping other communities across the U.S., that have supported military missions,” John Armbrust, ADC President, who was not in attendance on Thursday, said in a statement.

ADC recognized “a number of successes” throughout 2011 for Chaffee Crossing, including the development’s success in listing the Camp Chaffee Tank Destroyer Battalion District onto the National Register of Historic Places and “multiple contracts for the construction of Interstate 49 through the heart of Chaffee Crossing’s industrial district,” the release stated.

Owen promised that efforts were already under way to “use this” in future marketing materials.

FINANCIALS, CONTRACTS, AND A NEW TRUSTEE
Financials for the first seven months of 2012 continue to show a deficit, but are improving with close to “$3.6 million in real estate transactions” expected to close in the next two months, according to Janet Menshek, director of finance for FCRA.

FCRA shows a loss of $531,664 through July 31, 2012, with about $1.330 million in income and $1.862 million in expenses.

Also on Thursday, the FCRA awarded two bids for upcoming water and sewer projects.

The first, to Crawford Construction, is for the Taylor Avenue Water Distribution Project affiliated with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the amount of $594,260. The second, to The Harris Company, is for Chaffee Crossing utility extensions for the amount of $356,025.

Finally, the FCRA welcomed new trustee Charles J. Peacock IV, on Thursday. Peacock will replace J. Michael Milton. Milton left his post in May, but continues to work with Chaffee Crossing as a special projects coordinator.

Peacock has lived in Barling and operated Bruce-Terri Drive-In and Catering since 1987, and said that “as a business owner in this community,” he has “great interest” in the Chaffee Crossing development.

“Whatever Chaffee does will influence what happens to our business and everyone else on the east side of Fort Smith,” Peacock said.