Millions spent

If you already owned the property, what kind of 3,150-square-foot building with sidewalks, covered picnic tables and a maintenance shed could you build in an Ozark Mountain community for more than $700 a square foot? Perhaps a mini-me version of Hearst’s Xanadu castle? A palatial abode with polished marble floors and solid gold fixtures?

According to an Arkansas Department of Transportation engineer, that’s close to what the much-delayed reconstructed visitors center at Harrison, with four covered picnic venues and a maintenance building, will cost to build using 80 percent designated federal funds and 20 percent from state coffers.

When the sawdust clears, the price tag for the wood-and-stone welcoming facility along U.S. 65 North is expected to run some $2.4 million, according to records provided by Arkansas Department of Transportation District 9 resident engineer Steve Lawrence.

The original bid from Dayco Construction Co. of Damascus was $2,249,887.50 for the Harrison center. Yet a record of comparative costs between similar centers list Harrison as costing $2,416,091.59. When I asked Lawrence about the discrepancy, he said,

“The $2.2 million number is the original contract amount. The $2.4 million is the original contract amount plus change orders.”

Ahhhh, yes, those predictable, inevitable change orders in many government-sponsored contracts.

Multiple millions is actually in line with taxes spent to build four similar centers along non-interstate highways in the state, Lawrence explained.

I suppose that’s a bargain in government circles, considering the bid from Dayco Construction Company of Damascus reportedly was the lowest among four hopeful construction companies back in February 2016, Lawrence told me. In contrast, the highest bid for the Harrison center, from Flynco Construction Inc. of Little Rock, was $3.8 million.

The combined contracted prices (along with the change orders) for Harrison and the state’s four other non-interstate centers is listed in department records at close to $13 million.

Did I just detect a collective gasp? Lawrence told me the money used for this project are of the “enhancement fund” category and are required by Federal Highway Administration to be spent on specific projects such as welcome centers, not for highway construction or maintenance.

Harrison’s center welcomed 65,000 visitors in 2015. Lawrence said it is the most visited center in the state not on an interstate highway. “The previous center, although functional, was a constant maintenance issue,” he said.

I recall the previous Harrison center built in the 1980s that was demolished in late October 2016 as being suitable for the “Welcome, folks” and comfort stop it was. I can’t remember it needing $2.4 million worth of maintenance.

Plus, it has taken a painfully long time to complete this center that even today remains a work in progress. The work order for the Harrison contract was issued March 11, 2016, and Dayco’s revised estimated completion date is Aug. 15, almost a year after the originally contracted completion of Sept. 29, 2017.

As a result, the company has shelled out over $80,000 in overrun penalties (at $400 a day) since missing its original deadline.

Asked if the four covered picnic shelters (at $40,000 each) and a $50,000 maintenance building were included in the original bid for the center, Lawrence at first said he believed they had been, but later told me they weren’t.

“I did some additional checking and it turns out the maintenance building and the picnic shelters are not part of the lump sum bid for the building,” he said. “They are separate line items.”

The contract also includes furniture, which I’m guessing, based on what’s already being spent, could run, oh, I dunno, maybe $90,000?

By comparison, here are the square footage estimates and costs of the other welcome centers not on interstates: Corning in Clay County, 3,098 square feet, $2,030,031; Helena/West Helena in Phillips County, 3,616 square feet, $3,049,228; Lake Village in Chicot County, 3,356 square feet, $2,528,851; and Red River in Miller County, 3,256 square feet, $2,649,272.

Another anomaly I noted in the records is the size of Harrison’s heated and cooled space. One puts it at 3,150 square feet while the statistics comparing it with the four other centers lists it at 3,268 square feet.

Being the curious sort (and just for fun), I asked several veterans of the real estate and insurance business how much they thought the town’s new visitors center ultimately would cost.

Having driven past and watched for nearly two years as the handsome building on the outskirts of Harrison ever so slowly replaced the original, most guessed surely no more than $500,000!

Ha, ha, ha, you silly amateur estimators think way too small. You clearly don’t understand I’m talking about using our tax dollars here.