Developers Pledge $50,000 to UA Architecture School

Developers Rob Merry-Ship, Richard Alexander, Ted Belden and John Nock have pledged $50,000 to the University of Arkansas School of Architecture.

The money will be given in honor of long-time UA faculty member Cyrus Sutherland as the Cyrus and Martha Sutherland Endowment for Historic Preservation. It will fund a variety of projects to further the cause of historic preservation in Arkansas, with an emphasis in Northwest Arkansas. Belden said he thought the gift would come in $10,000 increments annually. It will be part of the UA’s Campaign for the 21st Century. He called the Sutherlands “big proponents of preservation in Northwest Arkansas.”

Alexander, Merry-Ship and Belden, along with the UA and the late Joyce Lambeth, were the developers of the $7.2 million Inn at Carnall Hall renovation project. Nock and Alexander are also involved in efforts to renovate Fayetteville’s dilapidated Mountain Inn.