• Click here for page 1 of the state's largest commercial projects.
•Click here for page 2 of the state's largest commercial projects.
• Click here for page 3 of the state's largest commerical projects.
• Click here for page 4 of the state's largest commercial projects.
And click here for a downloadable version of the list in spreadsheet format.
If there is a slow-down in construction activity in Arkansas, the trend isn’t apparent in the 2007 list of top commercial projects. The total contract value of projects in this year’s census is nearly $2 billion, compared with more than $1.7 billion in 2006.
The 2007 roster includes 123 projects valued at $5 million or greater, two more than a year ago.
This year’s list of largest commercial projects does reflect a construction slow down in northwest Arkansas, particularly Benton County.
Benton and Washington counties combined for 33 projects in 2007. Benton County alone was home to 36 major construction projects in 2006. Pulaski County grew from 27 high-dollar projects last year to 38 in 2007.
Little Rock, home to 30 projects, was a hotbed for big-dollar construction. The capital city was followed by Fayetteville with 16 projects.
University of Arkansas-related construction boosted the totals in both cities. Seven projects each are on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences campus in Little Rock and the UA campus in Fayetteville.
Two UAMS projects, a $130 million patient tower and $90 million expansion of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, top the 2007 list. Both projects belong to Little Rock’s CDI Contractors.
Rounding out the top five cities are Rogers with eight and Conway and North Little Rock with seven each. The top five cities accounted for 68 projects, 55 percent of the list.
Two Rogers projects among this year’s top 10 are carryovers: St. Mary’s Mercy Health of Northwest Arkansas Campus in Rogers, the biggest project in 2006; and the $65 million Pinnacle Hills Promenade.
J.E. Dunn Construction Group of Kansas City is overseeing the St. Mary’s project while Little Rock’s Vratsinas Construction is at the helm of Pinnacle Hills.
The biggest Conway project on the list is a $23 million apartment project by Fayetteville’s Lindsey Co., The Links at Cadron Valley.
The biggest North Little Rock project is the $14 million Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality office building by Conway’s Nabholz Construction Corp.
Nabholz posted the most projects on the 2007 list with 18 entries, up from 16 last year. Its biggest is the $25 million Patient Tower Expansion at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison.
CDI Contractors tallied 16 projects, a big jump from seven in 2006. The company landed a package of UAMS projects totaling more than $270 million to boost its overall total to more than $512 million in this year’s list.
This compares with a total of more than $233 million in the 2007 list for Nabholz.
Little Rock’s Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. accounted for nine projects this year, compared with seven 12 months ago. The firm’s dollar total in the 2007 list topped $121 million, with the $28 million expansion of the Arkansas State Hospital on the UAMS campus as its biggest project.
Another sign of the decline in construction activity in northwest Arkansas is the number of large projects for Crossland Construction Co. of Columbus, Kan. A leading contractor in Benton and Washington counties, the firm registered a dozen projects in the 2006 list and seven this year, totaling $88 million.
Crossland’s largest Arkansas project is the $19.7 million Lofts at Underwood Plaza project in Fayetteville.
Of the 53 different construction firms represented in the 2007 list of largest commercial projects, 34 are Arkansas-based concerns. Arkansas contracting firms accounted for 93 of this year’s 123 projects, compared with 82 out of 121 in 2006.
The top five projects this year total more than $420 million. The top five weighed in at $262 million in 2006, $203 million in 2005 and $286 million in 2004.
Two pieces of the Shackleford Crossing retail center in Little Rock made the 2007 list: the $8 million lifestyle center portion of the project by James H. Cone Inc. in Little Rock and the $5.6 million J.C. Penney store by EMJ Corp. of Chattanooga, Tenn.
New construction on the main campus of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro was quiet this year. However, two ASU projects elsewhere made the list: a new $16.5 million campus in Heber Springs by Baldwin & Shell and a $10.8 million multi-use academic building in Beebe by Nabholz.
Twenty-one projects related to K-12 school construction made the list in 2007. The biggest of the bunch is the $39 million Rogers High School 2 project by Flintco Cos. Inc. of Tulsa.
