Firm gets go-ahead to build VA home

Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs Director Matt Snead signs a contract with Steve Craig (left) of Craig Custom Construction to build a veterans home in North Little Rock. With them is Jim Thacker (right) with architecture firm Polk Stanley Wilcox.
Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs Director Matt Snead signs a contract with Steve Craig (left) of Craig Custom Construction to build a veterans home in North Little Rock. With them is Jim Thacker (right) with architecture firm Polk Stanley Wilcox.

A contract signed Friday between the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs and a contractor clears the way for work to start on a $24 million veterans home in North Little Rock.

Steve Craig, a general contractor with Craig Custom Construction, said his workers are prepared to start on the 31-acre site Monday. With the contract signed, he's now waiting on final approval from the architecture firm, Polk Stanley Wilcox.

A construction administrator with the Arkansas architecture firm said he'll give a notice to proceed after he receives permission from the Arkansas Building Authority.

"Signing the contract today was a major step," said Jim Thacker with Polk Stanley Wilcox. "They [Craig Custom Construction] would like to start working next week, and I'm not aware of any reason why they couldn't."

Spirits were high Friday afternoon as Craig, Thacker and state VA staff members gathered in department Director Matt Snead's office for the signing. It came about 120 days after Craig Custom Construction, a Little Rock firm, was awarded the contract for $19,104,443.

Though he could have submitted another bid because the original was good for only 90 days, Craig said he and his subcontractors stood by the price.

"We were a little concerned about the delay, but we're ready to go," Craig said. "We're ready to start building and ultimately get the thing occupied by the veterans."

The Central Arkansas Veterans Home will be built near the Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center, a VA hospital, on part of what used to be Emerald Park Golf Course. The campus will have a community building and eight 10,000-square-foot residences with room for 96 veterans.

It will be the second of two state-owned veterans homes. The other is located in Fayetteville.

The $24 million campus will be paid for with $7.5 million in state surplus funds and a $15.6 million construction grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The remaining amount was raised through donations.

A delay in getting the land transferred to the state led to the holdup in signing the construction contract.

In March, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald approved transferring the 31 acres, which were owned by the VA, and the state was given approval to begin construction.

About a week later, the state was told that the federal VA did not have the authority to transfer the land and that it would have to wait to award a contract until after a 90-day congressional review.

That review ended Monday. Snead said the deed to the land was recorded Friday, shortly before the construction contract was signed.

The project is scheduled to be completed by next summer, Craig said. The first step will be to build an entrance road off West Pershing Boulevard that will lead to the 31-acre tract.

Craig has already worked to survey the site.

"I used to play on that golf course," he said. "We've been driving on the site, and I'm like, 'Yeah, I've been here -- not in a four-wheel drive truck, but in a golf cart."

"It's just a beautiful site. It's going to be a great place for the veterans. It's great for them, it's great for the state, and it's great for us as a company."

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held sometime in late July. By that time, Craig said, construction should be well underway.

While Craig's crews begin work on the site, the state Department of Veterans Affairs will establish a plan for how it should be run -- with state employees, contract workers or a mixture of the two.

Lane Bailey, the department's deputy director, will travel to nursing homes around the state this summer to observe their operations, Snead said. The department will then present a few options to the governor's office for feedback in late August.

"The big thing is, whichever way we go, we receive no general revenue to run those homes," Snead said. "We have to run it like a business in order to pay for them and improve them."

During the signing Friday, two worn bricks sat stacked on Snead's desk. They were taken from the former Little Rock Veterans Home at 4701 W. Charles Bussey Ave. that was demolished last year.

The home was shut down in 2012 after it was discovered to have structural problems that would have cost more than $10 million to repair. The closure displaced the home's 60 residents, one of whom said in an interview last fall that his years there were the best of his adult life.

"We want to find some way to incorporate [the bricks]," Snead said.

Metro on 06/27/2015

Upcoming Events