Port Authority awards two bids for building Fort Smith warehouse

FORT SMITH — The Port Authority on Friday awarded two bids totaling nearly $ 715,000 to build a 30,000-square-foot bulk storage building as part of a plan to upgrade the facilities at the Port of Fort Smith.

Authority members voted to accept the bid from Cameron Hubbs Construction of Van Buren for $366,431 for concrete work on the building.

Legacy Building Solutions of South Haven, Minn., got the contract for construction of the building for $348,500.

Port operator Marty Shell with Five Rivers Distribution said the building will be finished in February, weather permitting.

Shell said after the meeting the new building will enable him to accommodate a customer who wants to bring in more product but cannot because of the lack of warehouse space at the port.

“This will help us secure this tenant for a longer term and bring more tons of product to this area,” he said.

The project is being funded with a $531,000 grant from the Arkansas Waterways Commission and with a 10 percent match of the grant from Five Rivers for a total of $584,780.

The project is $ 130,151 short of having enough money to pay for the work. Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman told port authority members that Legacy has agreed to delay receipt of final payment of $130,151 until Nov. 1, which will give officials time to apply for another grant from the waterways commission for the remaining amount.

If the commission awards the grant to the authority, the money will go to pay the Legacy debt, Dingman said. If the grant request is rejected and the port does not get money to pay off Legacy, Five Rivers or Shell will make the final payment.

Shell said he didn’t like the payment arrangement, but “I’ll do it, because I’m ready to put product in that building come February instead of waiting until this time next year.”