SPRINGDALE -- A city board could soon help with finances for the planned Arkansas Children's Hospital campus.
There will be a public hearing at today's City Council meeting before alderman consider allowing the Public Facilities Board to sell up to $85 million in bonds for the new hospital. This would help finance construction, equipment and furnishings for the hospital.
Web Watch
To learn more about the future Arkansas Children’s Hospital location in Springdale, go to archildrens.org, click on “About ACH” at the top of the screen, click on “Construction” in the list on the left side of the screen and click on “Northwest Arkansas Expansion” under “Construction” in the same list.
The estimated construction cost for the hospital is about $165 million, said Trisha Montague, the hospital's senior vice president of regional services. The hospital would cost about $245 million to operate for the first five years, according to Hilary DeMillo, a spokeswoman for Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation, the fundraising arm for the hospital, hopes to raise $70 million for the project, Montague has said.
The state Legislature allows the board to issue bonds for private projects that meet a public need, said Wyman Morgan, city director of administration and financial services. The board would sell the bonds and loan the money to Arkansas Children's Hospital. This wouldn't cost the city anything, said Mayor Doug Sprouse.
Arkansas Children's Hospital leaders in August announced plans to build a 24-bed, 233,000-square-foot hospital near Arvest Ballpark on land donated by Gary and Robin George and David and Cathy Evans.
Springdale's City Council zoned the land for the hospital in February, and the Planning Commission approved the development plan the same month.
The hospital plan shows a campus of about 36 acres on the northeast corner of the Watkins Avenue and South 56th Street intersection. Interstate 49 borders the property's east side.
The location has good access to I-49 and is centrally located in Northwest Arkansas, Montague said. The building will have five floors with entry at ground level and no basement.
A small road would extend north from Watkins Avenue along the east side of the hospital building, while another small road would extend east from South 56th Street north of the building, according to the plan. The plan also shows ponds and a walking trail winding through the property. The majority of the parking lot space would be just north of the building.
Plans call for the building to have five operating rooms, 30 clinical exam rooms, an emergency department and urgent care center with 21 exam rooms, a helipad and refueling station, and imaging and diagnostic services.
The most critical cases will still need to be transferred to Little Rock, and the Springdale site won't include a neonatal intensive care unit.
The hospital's clinic in Lowell serves about 22,000 children per year, Montague said. The new hospital will have multiple services that aren't offered at the clinic, such as chemotherapy infusions and an MRI machine.
Site work is underway and the hospital is set to open in January 2018. Officials plan to move all of the Lowell clinic's services to the new hospital at one time around the time of the opening, Montague said.
NW News on 04/12/2016