Ten Arkansas architectural firms responded to an advertisement for a piece of the contract to design the Arkansas Arts Center expansion, as early work on the five-year project to overhaul the Little Rock museum progresses.
The winning firm, to be selected by the end of February, will work alongside Chicago-based Studio Gang throughout a 20-month phase to design the $46 million expansion and an 18-month construction phase that will follow.
An Arkansas Arts Center selection committee chose Studio Gang, founded by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, as the project's lead design architect in December after receiving more than 20 applications.
Studio Gang has started examining the Arts Center in detail to compare it with blueprints and within months will begin discussing the extent of renovations with the local partner, Arts Center Executive Director Todd Herman said. The upgraded museum is scheduled to open in May 2022.
Little Rock voters in February 2016 approved a $37.5 million bond, backed by a 2 percentage-point increase to the city's hotel tax, to pay for the project. During the election, officials said significant private contributions would be raised to complement the public dollars, though a specific fundraising target won't be set until later this year, Herman said.
The project proposes 40,000 square feet of new space and a 90,000-square-foot renovation. The expansion's estimated $46 million price includes only construction costs, Herman said, so the ultimate total will be higher.
Established in 1960, the Arts Center includes the museum, regular art workshops and a children's theater. The building's last major expansion in 2000 included construction of 30,000 square feet of space and renovation of 12,000 square feet.
The Arts Center's request for an associate architect required that applicants maintain an office in Arkansas. Of the 10 firms that applied, eight have offices in Little Rock, one in North Little Rock and one in Bentonville. The Arts Center issued its request for qualifications Jan. 5 and set an application deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The Arts Center received responses from Polk Stanley Wilcox; Looney Ricks Kiss; Taggart; Hufft Projects; Jackson Brown Palculict; Allison and Partners; Cromwell; AMR Architects; Witten Delony and Davidson; and Odom Peckham Architecture, according to Arts Center spokesman Angel Galloway.
A committee of Studio Gang officials, Herman, the Arts Center's project adviser and one trustee will winnow the list to three or four finalists. Those firms will be interviewed Feb. 16-17, with the winner selected by the end of the month, Herman said.
Studio Gang and the local firm will decide how to split duties before signing a contract, anticipated in March, Herman said. The Arts Center expects to hire a project manager and primary contractor by the end of the year, Herman said.
J. Shepherd Russell, president of the Arts Center's board of trustees, said the nonprofit Arkansas Arts Center Foundation may front some of the project's early design costs because expenses are expected to pile up before the voter-approved bonds are formally issued.
"Basically, that's a lot of money that the [city of Little Rock] is contracting through us to have this done," Russell told trustees Monday. "The foundation, I think, is willing to advance the money. But, before any contract is signed, the funds will have to be secured."
The Arts Center and Little Rock also could discuss issuing a portion of the bond package earlier to help cover pre-construction costs, Russell said. Once the bonds are formally issued, officials have three years to spend most of the money. Construction isn't scheduled to begin until January 2020.
Foundation board chairman Robert Tucker did not return a message left at his office.
The foundation controls the Arts Center's endowment, which ended fiscal 2015 at $27.7 million, and its art collection.
Little Rock owns the Arts Center building and pays at least $700,000 per year on building maintenance under a 2015 agreement between the city, the Arts Center and the foundation. Little Rock's Board of Directors appoints members to the Arts Center board of trustees.
Metro on 01/26/2017