BENTONVILLE -- Advertising and Promotion commissioners agreed Thursday to hire Hunden Strategies Partners to study having a convention and conference center in the city.
The Bentonville Convention and Visitors Bureau received four proposals. Three companies, including Hunden, were from Chicago, and the other is from Atlanta.
"All four of them were phenomenal presentations," said Kalene Griffith, bureau president and CEO. "They're proposals were great. They met the scope of work. ...They all had great attributes."
Hunden was the lowest bidder at $53,000. PKF Consulting USA was the highest at $59,500. The bureau budgeted $60,000 for the study.
Griffith said she asked the two lowest bidders additional questions including what similar projects are they working on for other unique communities.
"We are the home of Walmart. We are still the home of 40,000 so sometimes it's very deceiving for people," she said. "They think oh you're the home of Walmart so you're huge, or you're a small town and can't handle (a convention center)."
Hunden has done studies for cities across the country, including three in Bentonville, according to its proposal. One was for 21c Museum Hotel.
Hunden's experience in Bentonville is a plus, Chris Sooter, chairman, said.
"We're pretty unique," he said. "I think we'll get a better study because they already know what's going on."
Galen Havner, commissioner, agreed and said they'd have a head start because of their experience in the city.
Commissioners approved to accept Hunden's proposal 5-0. Commissioners Rob Apple and Brian Rose were absent.
The proposal breaks the work into 12 tasks that include interviews, analysis, comparisons, drawings, funding analysis and recommendations. It's expected to take 11 weeks to complete the first draft and 13 weeks to deliver the final report.
Commissioners and bureau staff discussed at its Aug. 28 meeting how creating a convention center in the city was a top priority for the next three to five years. They said the facility should be built to host anything from business meetings to conferences to outdoor sports expos and events.
NW News on 12/05/2014