ArcBest To Add 975 Jobs In Fort Smith, NLR Terminal At Risk

ArcBest, the newly named Arkansas Best Corp., is expanding its in-state corporate presence with a new $30 million facility at Chaffee Crossing near its current Fort Smith headquarters, but the fate of a large North Little Rock trucking terminal may dampen the good news.

The Chaffee Crossing expansion will house new corporate offices and a growing data center that is expected to increase corporate employment by 975 workers by 2021. There is an expectation that a heavy concentration of new hires will be data analysts.

A groundbreaking is expected in the fall of 2014.

ArcBest, a provider of transportation and logistics, says it has exceeded the capacity at its current Fort Smith general office on Old Greenwood Road and has been leasing supplemental office space at a separate location since early 2012. The company has since outgrown the capacity at that location.

“As one of the area’s largest corporate employers with a bright future and growth plans ahead of us, we are excited to announce construction of this new facility in Fort Smith,” said ArcBest President and CEO Judy R. McReynolds. “With plans for growth at all of our operating companies, including ABF Freight, ABF Logistics, Panther Premium Logistics and FleetNet America, it is important that we develop additional space to accommodate these expanding businesses. Our decision to build a new facility in Fort Smith for the ArcBest and ABF Logistics companies underscores our long commitment to this area, and we are grateful for the commitment from the city and the state to help us meet our needs.”

Future plans include relocating ArcBest corporate and administrative functions and ABF Logistics personnel to the newly constructed office building which is anticipated to be smaller than the existing 195,000-square-foot corporate center facility on Old Greenwood Road.

In an interview with Talk Business & Politics, Arkansas Economic Development Commission director Grant Tennille said that the “real story” is the explosion of growth in technology jobs emerging from existing Arkansas firms not traditionally thought of as data driven.

“The real story is we keep seeing these businesses that historically we thought of as one thing — a trucking company — it’s getting ready to hire 1,000 data analysts. Data is driving everything,” said Tennille, who hinted that more announcements of this caliber may be in the works.

On the down side, rumors of a potential closure of ArcBest’s North Little Rock terminal, which employs more than 400 workers, continue to surface. Sources have indicated that ArcBest may be consolidating the North Little Rock facility with its Memphis operations — part of a larger corporate move to control expenses and overhead.

That pending move may explain why Gov. Beebe was not present at the major jobs announcement in Fort Smith on Friday.  A spokesman for his office referenced the North Little Rock terminal situation as a reason for his absence at the ArcBest expansion.

“While we’re excited about ArcBest’s new headquarters and new jobs in Fort Smith, we’re still monitoring the potential (and unrelated) shutdown of another ArcBest-owned facility in North Little Rock,” said Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample. “With those employees facing possible layoffs, Governor Beebe felt it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to personally be part of today’s announcement.”

Tennille said the state is fighting to keep the jobs in North Little Rock.

“Over the last year, ArcBest has either been consolidating or closing about two dozen of these terminals around the region,” he said. “They have looked at whether or not the math makes sense for them to close North Little Rock and move those operations to Memphis. They have not made a final decision. We are working closely with them and have been talking about putting a retention package on the table to keep them here.”

Tennille will appear on this week’s TV and radio edition of Talk Business & Politics with Randy Zook, CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/AIA. The two guests will discuss changes taking place to restructure Arkansas’ workforce development system.

Talk Business & Politics airs Sundays at 9am on KATV Ch. 7.