Gov. Asa Hutchinson helped ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith break ground Wednesday for its new company headquarters at Chaffee Crossing.
Technically, because of rainy weather, the company symbolically shoveled dirt at a city-owned pavilion adjacent to the 40 acres on McClure Drive where ArcBest plans to build its four-story, 200,000-SF headquarters. ArcBest expects the building to be completed in late 2016 and said it will create 975 jobs through 2021.
“My heart is here,” said Hutchinson, who practiced law in Fort Smith for 21 years and served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District, which is headquartered there. “I want to see it grow and see it prosper.”
ArcBest announced the $30 million project in May 2014 and said it had outgrown its current headquarters on Old Greenwood Road. ArcBest paid $400,000 for the 40 acres and holds an option to purchase 30 adjacent acres.
“It’s not a question of if but when,” said Walter Echols, ArcBest’s vice president of real estate. “It’ll be in the next 12 months.”
ArcBest will relocate its ABF Logistics division and its corporate and operational offices to the new headquarters, which will have a state-of-the-art call center. ArcBest CEO Judy McReynolds said the company needed room to expand for divisions such as Logistics, Panther Expedited and ArcBest Technologies.
“Today we’re setting another milestone with this groundbreaking,” McReynolds said. “It’s a time for new beginnings built upon our success that is firmly rooted in the past.”
When ArcBest made the original announcement for the new headquarters, then-Gov. Mike Beebe did not attend the news conference because the company had also started the process of moving a distribution center, and more than 300 jobs, from North Little Rock to Tennessee. ArcBest has purchased property in Memphis but has not confirmed that a decision to move there has been finalized.
Hutchinson said he has discussed the potential move with ArcBest executives.
“I think that is a fixed decision that is a question of whether those jobs are relocated in Memphis or whether we have a chance to compete for those in West Memphis or some other area,” Hutchinson said. “It sounds like they are committed to move those jobs out of North Little Rock. They’ve made a business judgment, and we just want to work with them to make we can retain as many jobs as we can in Arkansas.”
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