Cost for building in NLR mounts

Plans’ price tag grows by $1.37M

The construction cost for the new home of the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and two private companies has risen $1.37 million, to $8.34 million, a breakdown presented to the city’s Downtown Development Board showed.

The new cost includes the interior “finish out” that the three tenants will pay to complete their own floors in the three-story building in what is named the 600 Main Building. The core/ shell, land and parking lot for the building comes in at $5.84 million, $1.01 million higher than the cost previously given.

The Downtown Development Board, which manages the building’s construction and owns the land, late Monday afternoon approved raising its construction loan with First Security Bank to $7.72 million, including a contingency, for an increase of $226,898. In doing so, the board agreed to a maximum loan increase of $300,000 to cover the new cost and any incremental expenses that may come up by construction’s end, said Danny Bradley, the board’s chairman.

The building is about two weeks ahead of its construction schedule, Bradley said. The official completion date is January, but Bradley said he’s been told “if things continue to go well, there’s a real good possibility they’re done in December.” Nabholz Construction Services of Little Rock is the builder.

In October, the board approved a construction contract of $6.97 million for the building that covered all costs, including the land and parking lot. The core and shell of the building at that point was listed at $4.83

million.

The 600 Main Building will have the Convention and Visitors Bureau on the first floor, the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association on the second floor and Taggart Architects, also the architect for the building, on the third floor. Each tenant will pay one-third of the cost for the outer construction, land and parking lot, or $1.37 million each.

The outer and interior costs also include architectural fees of 6.5 percent of the original estimates, according to a breakout of the costs given the board.

Because of how each tenant will be responsible for its own floor, the interior construction costs differ, Bradley said. Each is responsible for how it finishes out its own floor.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau’s cost will be the highest at $153.04 per square foot because it plans to include a retail store to sell souvenirs and other items, “which I think ran the cost up some,” Bradley said.

Taggart’s floor will cost $123.30 per square foot. The Automobile Dealers Association, which doesn’t plan to use all of its space, Bradley said, will cost $105.92 per square foot.

All of the interior costs were higher than original estimates, Bradley said. The tenant finish-out will cost about $2.49 million total, according to the cost breakdown given the board.

“All three of these partners have approved the plan and the cost,” Bradley told the board, which consists of four members since former city Finance Director Karen Scott left city employment for a position in Benton. “Everybody gets to design their own space.”

The 600 Main Building is part of a complex surrounding North Little Rock’s $5.36 million downtown Argenta Plaza, also under construction. The First Orion Building — which is also expected to see its original $10 million cost estimate rise, city officials have said — is being built directly behind the plaza. The Rock Region Metro Trolley Barn is just to the north of the plaza and First Orion.

There is available property that the city owns at Main and Bishop Lindsey Avenue (Seventh Street) and behind the trolley barn that Bradley said is drawing interest for development because of the other ongoing projects.

“I’ll be surprised, if not by the end of the year, we have something in line for one of those spaces,” Bradley said.

Todd Larson, the city’s Economic Development director and a Development Board member, said he has talked with interested parties about the vacant property behind the trolley barn for a possible office development.

The North Little Rock City Council created the Downtown Development Board in 2016 to ensure “proper and orderly development of the downtown area.” The board has authority to borrow money and to acquire, sell, lease or manage property for development downtown.