SPRINGDALE — Developer and philanthropist Fadil Bayyari and his children are among the major donors to the Arkansas Children’s Northwest hospital under construction, the hospital’s foundation announced Wednesday.
Bayyari and his three children gave $1 million toward the project, which is to open near Arvest Ballpark by early 2018, according to a release from the foundation. The gift is part of at least $53 million raised in the past year or so, said Ashley Leopoulos of the foundation.
The 230,000-square-foot hospital will include clinics and labs, 24 inpatient beds, an emergency department, and several operating rooms for Northwest Arkansas’ roughly 200,000 children, complementing the more intensive care at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, officials have said.
The Northwest Arkansas hospital’s family respite area will bear the Bayyari name in honor of the gift, according to the release.
“As a devoted member of this community, I know that supporting Arkansas Children’s Northwest is simply the right thing to do for our kids,” Bayyari, CEO of Bayyari Properties and Construction, said in the release. “I’m proud of the ways the Northwest Arkansas community takes care of each other, and I know this hospital is one important way we will give our kids the promise of good health.”
The gift joins several other donations of $1 million or more, including $15 million from Tyson Foods and the Tyson family, and tens of millions more from Wal-Mart and its foundation, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, the George family of George’s Chicken.
The hospital is expected to cost around $167 million to build and several hundred million dollars more to run for the first several years. The fundraising goal is around $70 million.