FSM Holdings finishing $3.5 million Shared Services Center expansion

Community Health Systems has expanded the reach of its Shared Services Center across the former Phoenix Village Mall property in Fort Smith, Ark., with more than $3.5 million in improvements.

Talk Business & Politics reported in August the expansion could create as many as 250 additional jobs for the city. Facility owner/developer FSM Holdings LLC is now putting the finishing touches on exactly that number of computerized work stations as well as a break room, conference rooms, and additional office space. The Shared Services Center was opened in September 2013 by then Health Management Associates. The almost 90,000-square-foot space was initially staffed to provide administrative support to 23 hospitals and more than 150 physicians. Systemwide, the company now operates 159 hospitals in 22 states and manages 27,000 licensed beds.

Community Health is the parent company of Sparks Health System in Fort Smith and Sparks Medical Center-Van Buren. CHS also owns four Northwest Arkansas facilities — Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville, Northwest Medical Center-Springdale, Siloam Springs Regional Hospital and Willow Creek Women’s Hospital in Johnson.

FSM Holdings’ Lawrence Beaty said in a recent interview that the expansion took just 90 days to complete and it created employment for 120 area craftsmen and technicians, not including in the number of permanent jobs SSC will add.

Beaty is in the process of returning to Fort Smith after 13 years away. He worked here as a United States Power Technology Senior Power Systems Analyst from 2001 to 2003 and noted that that he “saw M*A*S*H* here” — the Robert Altman film — when Phoenix Village was still a mall.

The complex has since morphed into office space for Shared Services Center as well as Tampa, Fla.-based call center Sykes, among other businesses, thanks in large part to Lawrence’s brother Lance Beaty, president of Beaty Capital Group, and Dr. Steve Nelson of Fort Smith, who together purchased the 35-acre and almost-abandoned mall site in January 2009.

During that time, Lawrence Beaty was living in Pocatello, Id., where he was on the faculty at Idaho State University, retiring this year from his position as executive director and Chair of the Energy Systems Technology and Education Center.

LOCAL SOURCING
That credential isn’t surprising as he talks enthusiastically of the Phoenix Village expansion’s energy improvements, pointing out 160,000 feet of additional wiring, a 1 million-kilowatt diesel-powered generator, and the emergency automatic transfer switch that will keep each of the computerized workstations on track in the event of an outage, “so no data is lost,” he said.

“We added the generator to the first Shared Services part of the scope. When we did the expansion, we had to do additional capacity for OG&E because they didn’t have enough (electricity) coming in to serve the new load and the transfer situation we had for the existing load wasn’t big enough to serve the new loads, so we had to upgrade those systems,” Beaty explained.

But the energy setup, as integral as it is, is just one component of the renovation.

FSM Holdings poured in 6,000 tons of asphalt and concrete, 5,000 feet of pipe, and 36,000 square feet of carpet and tile. Aside from OG&E, assisting contractors included Moore Contracting, Wooten Plumbing, Prodigy Flooring, WB Dry Wall, Mid-South Painting, B&B Specialties, Matlock Electric Co., Deal Ceramic Tile, AirPro, Fire Systems Technology, and Bolton Striping.

Additionally, Lawrence said two dozen industrial strength heating and cooling units are perched on the rooftop. The units, he said, were intentionally sourced from Rheem. “That’s one of those things we were able to work out in the process,” he says, noting that “we wanted to bring in as much local content as possible, so this isn’t only about construction jobs, but business development and just creating as much positive impact on the region that we can.”

MALL BACKGROUND
After investing more than $16 million in the property, Lance Beaty said the location is – prior to the ongoing expansion – home to more than 1,500 jobs with an annual payroll of more than $35 million. Sykes employs more than 700, while Shared Services Center employed 575 as of the end of 2015. The full expansion would bump that number up to 825.

The mall site has also seen expansion with the move of Empire Liquor’s Fort Smith store. The store, owned by Nelson, moved from the corner of Old Greenwood Road and  Phoenix Avenue, to a 10,000 square foot space in a renovated strip mall building on the 35-acre former mall site.

Beaty Capital Group, through an affiliate, has an ownership interest in FSM Holdings, which on Aug. 16 filed for two building permits related to the SSC expansion with a total value of $3.75 million.

“In addition to the expanded space, the parking lot will be reworked and several aesthetic and functional changes will be made as part of the improvement,” Beaty previously told Talk Business & Politics.