City directors back bond sale for ArcBest

FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith city directors Tuesday signaled their intent to authorize the sale of up to $46 million in industrial revenue bonds for the ArcBest Corp. headquarters project at Chaffee Crossing.

The directors unanimously passed a resolution stating $30 million of the bonds, if authorized, would be used for construction and $16 million for furnishings and equipment.

A July 7 letter from ArcBest Vice President for Real Estate Walter Echols to City Administrator Ray Gosack said the cost of building the new headquarters on 30 acres of Chaffee Crossing land was "loosely estimated at $30 million."

ArcBest is estimating the cost of furnishings for the 150,000-square-foot building at $7.5 million and the cost of computer equipment ranging from $5 million to $8.5 million, according to Echols' letter.

According to the resolution, ArcBest would pay an amount equal to half of what it would otherwise pay in property taxes on the value of the property each year for 12 years. The resolution said the in-lieu-of-tax payment period on the computer equipment would be seven years, based on the expected life of such equipment.

ArcBest announced in May that it plans to buy 30 acres on a hilltop at Chaffee Crossing to relocate its corporate headquarters. The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority voted in early June to sell the land to ArcBest for $10,000 an acre. The company is considering buying another 10 acres of adjoining land.

As part of the sales agreement, the redevelopment authority will bear the cost of providing water, sewer, natural gas, electricity, fiber-optic cable and data services to the ArcBest site.

Officials said the company has long outgrown its current headquarters in south Fort Smith and has several smaller offices scattered throughout town. ArcBest plans to continue using the current 200,000-square-foot building as the headquarters for the ABF Freight trucking segment.

City directors and redevelopment authority members agreed last month to split the estimated $3.8 million cost of building two roads to the ArcBest site.

Echols said last month that the three- or four-story building is expected to be ready for occupation by about 600 administrative, call center and data-processing employees in the first quarter of 2016. Over the next 10 years, he said, the company plans to add 900 more employees to its payroll.

Metro on 07/16/2014

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