SPRINGDALE -- Downtown will grow structurally and aesthetically with a new criminal justice building that will feature a "unique urban" design style, according to an announcement from the Walton Family Foundation.
The foundation announced its three latest Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program projects Wednesday, with one being committed to downtown Springdale's city administration area. The other projects are a 5-acre park in Siloam Springs and a private school in Bentonville.
City leaders will use the $3.3 million grant to cover the cost of designing a new criminal justice building, and Mayor Doug Sprouse said he hopes to fund the construction with a bond issue in 2018.
"With a bond issue, there would be no increase in taxes to our residents," he said.
The new building would be constructed north of the City Administration Building at 201 Spring St., Sprouse said.
The mayor said he and fellow city officials learned about the design program last year and asked the Walton Family Foundation for more information about two months ago.
Karen Minkel, Home Region Program director of the foundation, said the city was invited to apply for a grant.
"We thought it would be a strong Design Excellence Program candidate," Minkel said. "It serves as an important gateway to the downtown and was one of the key recommendations in the Downtown Master Plan."
"I think it's great," Alderman Rick Evans said. "Anytime the Walton Family donates money or a grant [to Springdale], it's great for the community."
The planned building will house the Police Department and city attorney's office now in the administration building, along with district court and the city's information technology department.
The building inspection office at 107 Spring St. and community engagement office, located across the street from the administration building, will move to the administration building, filling the spaces the Police Department and city attorney's office now occupy. That part of the administration building will be renovated to suit the change, Sprouse said.
The new building and renovations will create a "municipal campus," Minkel said.
Centralizing the city and law enforcement offices frees up spaces toward revitalizing downtown Springdale, Sprouse said.
"This will be a great benefit to downtown, to our residents and to our Police Department," the mayor said.
The building will be designed by an architecture firm selected by city officials from a pool of firms associated with the design program. The program has a pool of more than 50 architecture and landscape architecture firms representing 15 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Denmark, Minkel said.
The building will have an innovative urban design that also complements surrounding architecture, she said.
"We are looking for projects that complement and enhance our existing urban fabric, so you're not going to wind up with a lot of unicorn buildings that don't fit in," Minkel said. Instead the building will "honor the area's rich tradition and advance the design in the community."
The Walton Family Foundation launched the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program in 2015 with three projects: a 51,500-square-foot performance art space for TheatreSquared in downtown Fayetteville; a 28,000-square-foot adaptive reuse project for the Rogers Historical Museum in downtown Rogers; and a new 44,000-square-foot facility and half-acre playground for the Helen R. Walton Children's Enrichment Center in downtown Bentonville, according to Luis Gonzalez, senior communication officer for the foundation.
Metro on 11/17/2016