Repairs to be made to Buckstaff
Hot Springs National Park is planning to make repairs to the Buckstaff Bath House, including replacing the porch.
With no projected date to begin, the project is expected to cost between $500,000 and $1 million, according to information on SAM.gov.
“That’s just kind of a ballpark estimate,” HSNP Management and Program Analyst Tricia Horn said. “We won’t know exactly until the bids come in.”
Contractors from HSNP’s regional office through the National Park Service in Omaha, Nebraska, are currently working on getting bids for the project.
“Our contractors in Omaha are working on getting that out for bid, so we don’t have any idea at this point when that’s going to open or close,” she said.
It should take no longer than around 120 calendar days from the time a Notice to Proceed is received to finish the project, the post said.
The Buckstaff will not be paying for the repairs directly, Horn said. Instead, since the bath house has a Category II concession contract, the money will be taken out of fees the bath house has already paid.
With the contract, the Buckstaff can make no construction or capital investments to the property. The money for these repairs will come from franchise fees, consideration paid to the director for the privileges granted by a concession contract, as a percentage of the gross income earned by the bath house as well as the Mountain Tower.
According to the NPS website, 80% of all franchise fees stay within the park they were collected, while the Commercial Services Program receives 20% to support park units across the NPS.
The Buckstaff Bath House has never closed since it opened in 1912, Horn said.
“To be able to keep that building open, every now and then we have to be able to do these large projects for the feasibility of the building itself and to keep the historic fabric from just falling apart,” she said.
The repairs listed on SAM.gov include the following:
• Tuckpointing all the joints on the sand-colored exterior brick.
• Low pressure washing and cleaning all exterior surfaces.
• Replacing the terrazzo porch.
• Replacing the exterior sidewalks, steps and ramp.
• Patching and sealing cracks in cap stone, stucco and plaster walls, wood surfaces and window sills and trims.
• Repairing and repainting exterior stucco, including all decorative and detailed structures.
• Repainting all painted exterior surfaces, including doors and windows.
The repairs to the porch involve matching the terrazzo to the same size, shape and optical design, the post said.
“To keep the historical structure the same, that’s what we’re trying to do,” Horn said.