Total estimated costs to develop, build and insure the second phase of the Little Rock Technology Park fall just shy of $26 million.
Direct construction costs are almost $15.5 million for the planned five-story, 85,000-square-foot building set to go up on a vacant lot on the north side of the first-phase building on Main Street between Capitol Avenue and Fourth Street, said Brent Birch, the park's executive director.
"That's pretty much everything," he told the park authority board at its monthly meeting Wednesday. "It's pretty comprehensive on what it would take to complete the new building."
The costs include everything from the fees for the architect and contractor to furniture that would be needed for the first two floors. The upper three floors would be shell space built out to the specifications of future tenants.
Board member Dickson Flake said construction inflation was built into the total cost of the building, which is planned to open in 2022.
The price tag came two months after the second-phase architect, WER Architects/Planners, previewed the preliminary plans and renderings at a presentation for the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board. WER and the building's contractor, CDI, spent the time since developing a budget based on more detailed schematics.
Among the next steps, according to Birch: Find an investor or investors to provide the money to build it.
The dollar amount likely will change but not significantly when the project undergoes a value engineering analysis that could take or add elements to the project.
"But we're not close to making any decision on those things," he said.
He said a presentation is being developed for meetings with potential investors.
Meanwhile, the first phase of the park, a 38,000-square-foot complex that opened two years ago, remains full with 54 tenants employing more than 100 people.
The city promised the park $22 million of the proceeds from a 2011 sales tax, which will expire in 2021, to help pay for capital costs. The tax hasn't collected as much as estimated, and the amount the tech park will receive is now estimated at $20.7 million.
The expected tax proceeds enabled the park to borrow the money to pay for the first phase of the park, designed to be a Silicon Valley-like incubator for high-tech startup companies.
The park has almost $700,000 left to pay off of a $5.4 million loan after the board approved putting a $1.5 million sales-tax payment from the city toward the note. Birch said the balance likely will be paid off with the next city payment later this year. Birch said he didn't know what the amount would be.
That leaves a $9.6 million loan still to pay off, he said.
Business on 02/14/2019