SPRINGDALE -- An architecture firm has been approved to design the city's new Criminal Justice Complex, and the building will feel like home, the firm's principal member said.
The City Council unanimously approved Tuesday hiring Duvall Decker Architects of Jackson, Miss., to take on the extensive project.
Selecting the firm
Duvall Decker was selected from a slate of architecture firms associated with the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program. The program has a pool of more than 50 architecture firms representing 15 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Denmark. It was chosen from four finalists that included firms from New York City, Minneapolis and San Francisco by a committee that included Mayor Doug Sprouse, Planning and Community Director Patsy Christie, Administrative and Financial Services Director Wyman Morgan, Police Chief Mike Peters and Capt. Derek Hudson and Capt. Frank Gamble, both of the Police Department.
Sprouse said Duvall Decker was far and away the best choice.
"We know how to make really great civic buildings that communities are proud of and that serve as a legacy," Roy Decker, principal-in-charge of the firm, said to the council. "We are very excited and honored to be here."
Duvall Decker will design both the 78,600-square-foot complex as well as remodeling plans for the City Administration Building for a combined cost of $3,250,508.
The firm will be paid with money the city received from a $3.3 million Walton Family Foundation grant.
Duvall Decker has won numerous awards, including the American Architecture Award in 2007 for the firm's work on the Mississippi Library Commission Headquarters, according to the firm's website.
Decker said his firm is strongly suited to take on the complex.
"We're working on a court building for the federal government right now in Greenville, Miss., and one of our consultants is an expert on police and justice facilities," Decker said.
The complex will feel like an extension of Springdale, "like home," representing the city's culture and aspirations, Decker said.
"This city's histories and stories have to be part of the project," he said. "This building represents that history and those stories."
The complex will be north of the administration building, 201 Spring St.
Decker said in a letter to the city the budget goal for the project is $27,500,000.
City leaders hope the cost to build the complex and complete the remodel will be paid for by a 2018 bond program residents will vote on. The bond will not include a tax increase, said Melissa Reeves, the city's public relations director.
The complex will house the Police Department and city attorney's office, district court and the Information Technology Department. The building inspection office at 107 Spring St. and community engagement office, across the street from the administration building, will move to the administration building. That part of the administration building will be renovated to suit the change, Mayor Doug Sprouse said.
NW News on 05/24/2017