ROGERS, Ark. — It's been over three months since tornadoes swept through Benton County. On Tuesday night, the City of Rogers took one step towards storm recovery with their public buildings.
The city council approved the mayor entering into contract agreements with three construction companies Flintco LLC, Milestone Construction, and Nabholz Construction, and three architecture firms Paragon Architecture, LLC, Demx Architecture, and Hight Jackson and Assoicates, for storm rebuilding.
"Our estimates are somewhere around $33 million in damage to city facilities itself. So that's going to be a lot of work. It's a lot of small damage projects, from just fencing to entire roofs that are in our Victory Theater, to the entire demolition of Northwest Park," Rogers Mayor Greg Hines said.
"You don't normally see us bring on three teams of each profession, but that's in an attempt to kind of close the gap on this and say we've got a team that is going to be nimble and ready to move as soon as we're able to negotiate with our insurance carrier as well as negotiate with FEMA," Hines added.
The city will be using these six companies for redesign and rebuild when the time comes. Key buildings like the Rogers Public Library, Victory Theater, Northwest Park, the Rogers Fire Department training center, and the city's street department building were significantly damaged and listed as projects that these companies will take the reins on.
"Nearly every facility with the exception of City Hall sustained some type of damage," Hines said. "When you look at, a city our size it unfortunately adds up really, really quick."
Down the street in downtown Rogers is the Center for Nonprofits at St. Mary's, which also sustained significant storm damage. They provide below-market rent for nonprofit organizations.
"Our roof was heavily damaged, which also led to extensive water damage from the rain and leaking. It impacted our HVAC system. We had 36 downed trees on our 10 acres in downtown Rogers, and they fell on the buildings and created brick damage, fence damage, window damage," said Emily Ironside, Chief Strategic Officer for The Jones Center, which owns operates the Center for Nonprofits.
The center, which is home to 69 nonprofits, re-opened just 10 days after the storms.
"We knew it was important we get that building open so that our nonprofit affiliates could continue their services as quickly as possible," Ironside said. "We were able to quickly bring in contractors and start paying for those repairs almost immediately."
Out of pocket repair expenses were around $1 million for the center, and to help with the unexpected expenses, they received $671,500 in grants from a variety of local organizations such as the Walton Family Foundation, Walmart Foundation, Tyson Foods, and Excellerate Foundation. They also received a donation for ceiling tiles from JE Allen Foundation valued at $29,000.
"It's all been used to help remove the 36 downed trees and repair the windows and repair the roof and the HVAC system so that it's not only a safe place to work, but a comfortable place," Ironside explained. "It's amazing we have such a generous community, and everyone here really wants to ensure we have a strong nonprofit community. When others invest in us, they're investing in a larger support structure for nonprofits all around Northwest Arkansas."
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