Baldwin & Shell moves NWA headquarters to Springdale

Little Rock-based contractor Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. will mark its 75th anniversary next year. Patrick Tenney says the company’s division in Northwest Arkansas will continue to be a vital component of the next 75 years.

Speaking of milestones, Tenney is celebrating one this year: 30 years with the company. Since 1997, he’s been president of Baldwin & Shell’s Northwest Arkansas division. Late last year, the office relocated from Rogers to a new 8,092-square-foot building west of Interstate 49 in Springdale.

Baldwin & Shell bought the land in July 2018 then built the single-story building at 6514 Lynch’s Prairie Cove in Har-Ber Meadows. In July, Tenney and a few other company principles formed a limited liability company and bought the property for $1.95 million. They’re leasing it back to the company.

In a recent interview, Tenney said the company’s new Northwest Arkansas headquarters is akin to returning home. Baldwin & Shell opened its first regional office on Emma Avenue in Springdale in 1990. The company was building the patient tower and parking garage at then-Springdale Memorial Hospital, now known as Northwest Health.

But many of the company’s projects in the area date back much further. Some of the notable ones include:

• Renovation of Barnhill Arena at the University of Arkansas in the late 1970s
• Restoration of the UA’s centerpiece, Old Main
• Headquarters of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. in Lowell
• Jones Center for Families in Springdale.

The Northwest Arkansas division office relocated to Rogers at Pinnacle Point in 2001. Tenney said annual revenue generated by the regional office the past couple of years is about $40 million. It should be close to $50 million this year and more in 2021, he said. The current backlog in the Northwest Arkansas office is about $244 million.

“That’s the largest we’ve ever had in this office,” Tenney said.

He said investing in a larger building has multiple benefits. The company occupies half the building right now but is already planning to build out the remainder for future growth.

Baldwin & Shell has nearly 40 employees in Northwest Arkansas, up about 50% in the past three years. Companywide there are about 250 who work in offices at the Little Rock headquarters and in Jonesboro and Bryant. There’s also an office in Memphis, Tenn.

“The growth is a reflection of the amount of work that is here [in Northwest Arkansas],” Tenney said. “We wanted to get ourselves positioned well for the long-term future. We wanted to build a convenient and efficient building for our people, and we want to attract top talent in the industry. It’s a nice place to come to work.”

Tenney said Baldwin & Shell, particularly in Northwest Arkansas, has avoided any significant impacts  of COVID-19. A diverse workload, including K-12, commercial, medical and cultural projects, has insulated the company from the economic effects of the downturn, he said.

“Now, we’re all affected by whether we can get materials for the job or if we have employees or trade workers get ill,” he said. “We navigate those things. But in terms of our workload, we’ve been fortunate.”

Baldwin & Shell hasn’t instituted any layoffs during the pandemic, Tenney said.