ROGERS — The Red Cross chapter has a new home in Rogers.
The Northwest Arkansas Chapter moved into the Center for NonProfits on June 1 after nearly a decade in Tontitown.
At A Glance
Blood Donations
To donate blood through the Red Cross, call 1-800-Red-Cross or go online to www.redcrossblood.org to set up an appointment to donate blood.
Source: Staff Report
“We are now in a more visible location and in the middle of things,” said Brigette Williams, regional communications officer for the American Red Cross in Arkansas. “It was a perfect location.”
The Red Cross is divided into two departments that operate individually: blood services and chapter activities, which includes disaster relief, aid to soldiers and community education and outreach.
Both sections were housed at a Red Cross-owned building at 250 Industrial Circle in Tontitown before moving to leased space at the Center for NonProfits at 1200 W. Walnut St. Chapter offices are on the center’s second floor and the blood center is in the basement of the old hospital building.
The new office has about 4,500 square feet of space. The Tontitown building was 13,740 square feet.
Williams said the Center for NonProfits has ample meeting and conference space. The Red Cross put the Tontitown building up for auction earlier this week. The agency purchased the building in 2004 for $635,000, according to county property records.
Tom Galyon, property representative at The Jones Trust, said the Red Cross filled the center’s last large office space. The Jones Trust owns the Center for NonProfits building. The 269,000-square-foot center opened in 2009 at the old St. Mary’s Hospital.
“The addition of the Red Cross is an indication of the viability of this campus not just to Rogers, but to all of Northwest Arkansas,” Galyon said.
Neither Galyon nor Williams could provide a lease rate, but Galyon said rents typically run around $10 a square foot.
Only a few offices remain unoccupied in the center including four 250-square-foot offices; two 500-square-foot offices and a 750-square-foot suite, Galyon said.
Laurie Nehring, Red Cross Biomedical Services regional communications manager, said the move prompted the organization to open a second blood collection site at the Jones Center in Springdale.
She said having an additional collection point is especially beneficial during the summer months when overall donations are down. The blood centers do not operate on a set schedule and Nehring encouraged potential donors to call 1-800-Red-Cross to set up an appointment at either location.