Correction: Alessi Keyes Construction of North Little Rock was contracted for construction and renovation of what will be the new home of The Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas at 1131 Arcade Drive in Little Rock. This article about the new offices omitted the firm's involvement.
The Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas is getting new digs in Little Rock with double the organization's current space in North Little Rock, and for the first time, it will have climate-controlled space for its cookie venture.
Late last month, the group bought a building at 11311 Arcade Drive for $945,000 from Arcade Building LLC, which consists of owners of the law firm of Carney Bates & Pulliam PLLC, said Jennifer Morehead, chief external relations officer for the Girl Scouts Diamonds. The Girl Scouts had been in a building at 615 W. 29th St. in North Little Rock since 1966, she said.
The Girl Scouts underwent a national reorganization in 2008. From that, the Diamonds council was formed with North Little Rock as its corporate office. The Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas encompasses all of Arkansas plus Adair, LeFlore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma and Bowie and Cass counties in Texas. The group has regional offices in Fort Smith, Texarkana, Fayetteville, Jonesboro and Pine Bluff.
The Girl Scouts started looking for a place nearly a year ago.
"The former Arcade Building ... presented an ideal site option for the Scouts' new state and regional headquarters," said Lee Strother with Colliers International, which represented Arcade LLC. "Overall [it was] a perfect buyer-seller match and quality use for the Rodney Parham area."
The council also has eight "wilderness" camp properties around the state that are used for outdoor activities.
This year's Girl Scout cookie season is in full swing, with deliveries being made and booth sales planned through March 15. In 2014, the locally led council sold more than 1.5 million boxes of cookies with a gross revenue of more than $5.4 million, Morehead said. Cookies are stored in each of the regional offices, with the largest number of boxes stored in the corporate office location.
"In previous years, our cookies have been stored in our conference room," Morehead said. "That means we lose a huge meeting space when cookie season hits."
The newly purchased 11,000-square-foot, two-story building in Little Rock is already configured how the Girl Scouts want it. Three suites downstairs will be used for cookie organizing and sales, a colorful lounge where Girl Scouts can hang out and a retail space for Girl Scout products and gear. About 30 staff members will work upstairs. The organization serves more than 8,000 girls and 5,000 volunteers.
"All of our councils have shops in them where you can come and purchase Girl Scout items, and a lot of people don't realize they're open to the public," Morehead said. For instance, the Scout store has Yankee candles in its cookie scents.
"We can actually create a boutique," she added.
The move is scheduled for the first week in May.
The organization contracted Williams & Dean Architecture/Interior Design to renovate the three downstairs suites, with a focus on the retail space.
"We tried to use as much of the bones of the building as we possibly could," interior designer Brooke Allen said. "The spaces pretty much filled up themselves, and the layout just worked out perfectly."
Allen said she incorporated the Girl Scouts brand into much of the decor.
Each suite has its own thermostat, so cookies can be stored in a controlled climate. Allen designed a wall that will shield the cookies from direct sunlight.
Carney Bates & Pulliam now occupies the top floor of the former Arcade Building, along with some other tenants. The Girl Scouts' current home was sold to the city of North Little Rock on Feb. 11 for use by its Police Department investigation division. Costs to buy the building and renovate it are not to exceed $490,000, according to a resolution passed by the North Little Rock City Council.
The law firm is moving to the BancorpSouth building at 2800 Cantrell Road.
Business on 02/21/2015