FORT SMITH -- The new president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Marshals Museum estimates the facility will open to the public next summer.
Ben Johnson said the Little Rock-based CDI Contractors started completing construction inside the museum that will hold its exhibits Tuesday. Subcontractors across the United States and Canada are designing and building the exhibits, which are scheduled to start arriving in March or April.
"My best guess is by summer of '23, we'll be able to welcome folks into the building with the exhibit halls up and going and really be able to experience what this place is going to be for the next 50 to 100 years," Johnson said.
The museum, located in Fort Smith, signed a $7.8 million contract with Thinkwell, a Los Angeles company, in November to build the exhibits.
Johnson said the exhibit area has been about 20,000 square feet of relatively empty space for the past couple of years.
"The rough build-out that they're working on right now is taking the design of the exhibit experience and making sure all the walls and the false ceilings and the electrical and all of that kind of base pallet for the exhibits is installed and ready to roll before some of the lighting contractors roll in, probably toward the end of the year or after the first of the year," Johnson said.
Doug Babb, chairman of the museum's board, said the estimated cost for CDI's work is about $2.27 million. The scheduled summer opening depends on the exhibits being installed in the first quarter of next year. The museum will announce an official opening date as the exhibits are nearing completion.
Johnson started Aug. 22 as the museum's new president and CEO after a national search, replacing Patrick Weeks, who resigned from the position March 4. The museum had hired Weeks in 2016.
Weeks, 53, was arrested Dec. 21 in connection with two felony counts of aggravated assault with a firearm after two utility workers reported he pointed a gun at them, according to police. The museum put Weeks on administrative leave Dec. 23.
However, Weeks pleaded guilty to his two charges in the county Circuit Court in September, according to court records. He was given two concurrent suspended prison sentences of six years and ordered to pay fees including $2,500 in fines and $150 in court costs, as well as to not make contact with the victims.
Johnson was vice president of museum experience for the Putnam Museum and Science Center in Davenport, Iowa, before coming to Fort Smith, according to a Marshals Museum news release. He has also served as executive director of the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, N.Y.
Babb said Johnson is off to a strong start, getting up to speed quickly and working well with museum staff and both the museum and Marshals Museum Foundation boards. Babb believes Johnson's 20 years of experience in museum operations make him the right person for the museum project at this point.
"Once we complete the construction and the installation of the experience, we've got a guy who knows about museum operations, knows about how to change the special exhibits gallery to bring in more local and regional customers and knows how to market a museum and operate," Babb said.
Johnson believes the museum project is important due to the large economic impact it's expected to have on Fort Smith and the River Valley as an attraction for people from outside the region. He said although any skepticism toward it is well-deserved given it's been in the making since 2007, he thinks people will see that time was spent creating a "genuinely world-class cultural experience" once it opens.
"The experience itself, when people walk in and get to go through it for the first time or the second time or the third, our goal is that they're going to be wowed by what they see, they're going to come out knowing more and being proud of their community, and this is going to be really something that we can hang our hat on for the decades to come," Johnson said.
Johnson also believes the story of those who served in the U.S. Marshals Service deserves to be told "good, bad and ugly."
Babb said the museum foundation has to raise about $4 to $5 million to complete its approximately $50 million capital campaign. This will cover the $2.27 million estimate to build out the exhibit space, along with about $1.5 million more to build the exhibits and additional expenses for things such as furniture, fixtures and equipment.
The price of the exhibits went up about $1.5 million due to increased costs stemming from inflation and supply chain issues, among other factors, that came after the museum signed the $7.8 million contract with Thinkwell, according to Babb.
Johnson is meeting with members of the foundation board and the museum's donor base to inform them about the project's status and the timeline for opening, Babb said.
"Once Ben has done that, we'll be in a position later this year or early next year to go back to our donor base and see who is willing to help us to close the final capital campaign amount," Babb said.
Fort Smith voters rejected a proposal in March 2019 to levy a nine-month, 1% sales tax to pay for the museum's completion. Construction of the main museum building, which consists of about 53,000 square feet at 789 Riverfront Drive along the Arkansas River, was completed in January 2020.
Daniel Nabarro with SMP Contractors works, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, while building out space for future exhibits at the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith. Ben Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the museum, said he expected the facility will be open to the public sometime in the summer. Visit nwaonline.com/221016Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)Project Beginnings
John Clark, former director of the U.S. Marshals Service, announced Fort Smith as the selected site of the future U.S. Marshals Museum in January 2007.
Source: U.S. Marshals Museum website