Conway Corp., the provider of Conway’s city-owned utility services, hopes to have completed designs for a new “headend” facility by September, according to Chief Technology Officer Jason Hansen.
Hansen described the facility as a data center of 2,200 to 2,300 SF that will house equipment related to the utility provider’s Internet, cable, telephone and emergency alert systems.
Richard Arnold, chief executive officer of Conway Corp., said the project has a $3.2 million budget.
Arnold said the decision to build the facility stemmed from the fact that Conway Corp. has added a number of services in recent decades and that there is insufficient space at the current 800-SF facility.
He added that the company wanted improved fire suppression and wind resistance and that it made more sense to build a new structure than remodel the existing one.
Arnold said the new facility will be adjacent to the current one, which is on the Conway Corp. main campus at 1307 Prairie St., and that it will be staffed with current employees.
Brown Engineers of Little Rock is designing the facility, and Hansen said that he expects that the company will receive construction bids for the project in the fourth quarter of this year.
Arnold said the current short-term goal for the project is to have 35 percent of the design process completed by the end of July.
