A forecast released Wednesday estimates that the complete cost to build a Little Rock Technology Park downtown will be almost $100 million.
The cost model assumes that land acquisition, set to be finalized by mid-April, would total $17.5 million.
Another $14 million is expected to be spent during the first of five phases of building the tech park, with the first phase involving the purchasing of property, demolishing some buildings, constructing a surface parking lot and renovating the 39,000-square-foot annex to the First Exchange Bank building.
If everything progresses on schedule, renovation of the annex at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Main Street could be complete with the first tenants moving in by the end of this year, tech park Director Brent Birch said.
However, the entire first phase could take two to three years, Tech Park Authority Board member Dickson Flake said.
When presenting the cost model Wednesday, Flake cautioned that nothing included in the document is permanent.
"This is a model only for you to review and challenge," he told fellow board members. "It will be a constantly changing concept."
"This is not intended to be a plan. It's not a plan. It's not a budget. It's just a model, because everyone involved -- particularly city-elected officials -- want to know how you are going to spend the money. And of course, the next question is going to be 'How are you going to get it?' That's what we are working on right now," Flake said.
What is included in each phase of the project and how much each part costs could all change, and likely will, he said.
The authority board is pursuing property located in and adjacent to a downtown city block between Main and Scott streets off Capitol Avenue for the park, which will provide space to companies and start-ups that will use research from area hospitals and universities to build their ideas and put products on the market.
The chosen site includes the Exchange Bank building and its annex; KATV-TV Channel 7's studio and parking garage; a vacant building often referred to as the old Stephens building; the Mays, Byrd and Associates law firm; and five parking lots.
There are four property owners: Stephens Inc., the Mays law firm, KATV and the Rose Law Firm, which owns one of the lots.
Negotiations with Stephens Inc., which owns most of the property including the bank building and its annex, is set to wrap up by the end of this month.
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education is located in the bank building and is under a 15-year lease that tech park officials plan to honor. Because of that occupancy, the annex space was chosen as the first phase of the park.
A request for proposals for the architects, engineers, a contractor and other consultants on redevelopment of the annex is scheduled to be released March 1, with all proposals in by May 15.
But before work can begin, the tech park has to purchase the building. Little Rock officials have promised to contribute $20 million over 10 years for the construction of the park. The funds accrue annually and are being generated from a 2011 sales-tax increase approved by voters. Collections began in 2012.
Flake said he's still working on how much of that funding is available now and noted that the money used to acquire the tech park site may be a mixture of city dollars and borrowed funds.
In the meantime, the tech park is located in temporary space in the Block 2 Lofts building on Markham Street. Birch announced Wednesday that seven of the 15 available desks in that space have been leased and another four or five companies are looking at moving in in March.
Another 100 spaces have been leased by the Arkansas Venture Center in a partnership with the tech park that the authority board approved previously.
The companies occupying the seven desks are: Elyxor, a software engineering firm based in Massachusetts, with three desks; nFonics, a business system production company based in India, with one; Merger Match Consulting, a merger assessment company based in Little Rock, with two; and East Coast Awakening, LLC, a computer systems design company based in Little Rock, with one space.
While not based here, Elyxor has a team of developers set up in Little Rock and nFonics Principal Unni Perroth lives in the city.
There are also unnamed prospects interested in occupying space in the tech park annex building when it is complete, Birch said.
"I have fielded a couple of calls by what I would call larger prospective tech park tenants on the timeline for the annex being ready for occupation as they are nearing expiration on existing leases," Birch wrote in his report to the board. "I feel we are getting close to a tipping point with a couple of these before they are forced to seek other options if our timeline doesn't sync up."
Birch said the companies are all software-related and that two want to take up an entire floor in the renovated annex. Some are established companies, while others are newer, he said.
Metro on 02/12/2015