CONWAY — It’s been almost a year since Nabholz Construction Corp. started remodeling the 1969 federal building that houses the post office in downtown Conway, and the owner/developer said the building should be finished by mid-January.
“Hopefully, we will be completely done from the standpoint of the exterior and all the common spaces,” said Greg Nabholz, CEO of Nabholz Properties, which owns the building.
Nabholz said Federal Plaza, as it is being called, will be “a throwback to the Georgian architecture that the previous post office had there.”
The original post office was torn down and was replaced by the building being renovated at Main and Front streets.
The remodeled two-story facility will include three arched entryways on the Main Street side - one each for the post office, the lobby and office spaces.
“The entire building is going to be red,” Nabholz said, standing outside the construction fence, pointing to a half-painted side of the brown-brick building.
It will have a “plaza area” that customers step up to on the front, with a handicapped-accessible ramp off Front Street.
The facility has 20,000 square feet of space to lease, according to the Sperry Van Ness-Nabholz properties website. Nabholz also is managing director of Sperry Van Ness-Nabholz Properties.
Nabholz said he is negotiating with a tenant to fill the remaining space the post office doesn’t take downstairs, and the second floor could be configured for three or four offices.
The building will be “green,” certified by Leadership in Energy and Environment Design, Nabholz said.
The Conway post office, which has been the main occupant of the two-story building, first relocated to a trailer behind the building, then to the east side.
Now, the post office has moved into its new space inside but can only be accessed by a ramp on the east side of the building.
Customers must go down a long hallway with two turns to get to the office.
A false wall will be taken down when the front access is completed, and customers will be able to go in through a front door of the building, as well.
Sherry Dixon, a 28-year employee of the Conway post office, said people have complained about the “maze” to get to the post office.
“A lot of communities would love to have this problem, walking down a hallway,” she said.
Customer Leona Brown of Conway agreed.
“Thank God there’s a post office,” she said.
Nabholz said the project will improve the look and usage of the building.
“When the building is completed, we’re putting more of a presence on the Front Street side as well, where before you had that whole side of the building that was pretty much neglected,” Nabholz said. “We’re trying to reintroduce that side to the street.”
A happy coincidence, Nabholz said, is that the city is redoing Main Street to create “streetscapes” similar to other downtown streets.
“That worked out great,” he said.
Mayor Tab Townsell said the streetscape project, on Main from Front east to Harkrider Street, will further improve the look of downtown Conway. The bulb-outs with plants will be built at intersections, and sidewalks will have pavers.
Ronnie Hall, city engineer, said the street project is 30 percent done and should be completed by March. The Conway Downtown Partnership will provide the landscaping for the bulbouts, he said.
“We’re trying to make it a more walkable and parkable area,” Hall said.
City Hall is just around the corner from the Federal Plaza project.
“I’m enjoying watching the changes; I like any project that you can see something transform,” Townsell said. “I think it’s a wonderful investment in downtown Conway.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 132 on 12/11/2011