Budget overruns reported for Fort Smith innovation center

FORT SMITH -- Construction for the School District's Peak Innovation Center will cost significantly more than originally estimated.

Shawn Shaffer, supervisor of construction and facilities for the district, told the School Board on Monday the district's anticipated final cost for the project is more than $19 million. The figure, which includes both committed and non-committed money, exceeds the more than $16.5 million the School District allocated to construction for the center by $2.5 million.

This comes after the School Board learned in June the center, which was due to open in August in collaboration with the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, is being planned to be completed by Jan. 4 due to delays in the project.

Zena Featherston Marshall, executive director of communication and community partnerships for the district, previously said the programming for students will begin as scheduled at UAFS in light of the delays.

The center will provide career and technology education for high school students across 22 regional school districts and district-specific visual arts programming, a news release from the School District states.

The project is a part of the School District's Vision 2023 capital improvement program, being paid for by a millage increase Fort Smith and Barling voters approved in May 2018. The increase moved the district property tax rate from 36.5 mils to 42.058 mils and will generate about $120 million.

However, Shaffer said the School District can go "net-neutral" on each project overall in the millage program to include the Peak Innovation Center project despite the overage. This was confirmed by School District Superintendent Terry Morawski, who said the district is in a favorable position with the program. He also outlined how the district will move forward.

"This will require us to move money within projects, so any project that's under would receive funds from projects that have funds remaining," Morawski said. "So we're kind of balancing the book here, but it would be to Peak's benefit, I guess, in this case."

Shaffer said more than $13.7 million in millage money had originally been set aside for the Peak Innovation Center project. This comprises the majority of the more than $20.1 million behind this project, with the rest coming from outside sources. However, only $16.5 million is allocated to construction due to limitations placed on the additional money.

Shaffer said the more than $13.7 million was how much a master planner hired by the School District, the Texas-based firm Corgan, determined it would cost to build a career and technology center in 2018. However, it was assumed Phase I for the project would entail 50,000 square feet of construction and the center would be inside a renovated structure. Construction would also begin Aug. 1, 2019.

The School District received an approximately 181,000-square-foot building at 5900 Painter Lane donated by the estate of local businessman William L. Hutcheson in 2019, which would become the site for the center.

Morawski said accepting the donation meant the School District didn't have to spend $2 million originally budgeted to purchase a new facility for the center. However, as the district looked at the footprint of the building, as well as spaces to provide support the Innovation Center program needed, Shaffer said the project increased from 50,000 square feet of construction to more than 61,341 square feet. This alone raised construction costs more than $1.7 million.

Other factors the master planner didn't originally take into consideration, including work that needed to be done for the exterior envelope of the building and demolition work, raised the construction costs for the project to more than $15.7 million, considerably more than the original figure of just more than $9 million.

Accepting the donated building also raised development costs for the project, such as professional fees, owners furniture, fixtures and equipment and technology equipment, by almost $1.2 million, according to Shaffer. There have also been other costs.

Shaffer said the more than $19 million anticipated final cost for construction includes Phase II work with an elevator, as well as a roof replacement to address leaks.