{"id":30513,"date":"2025-05-20T16:49:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T23:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/je-dunn-nabholz-tapped-for-proposed-825m-arkansas-prison\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T16:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T23:49:35","slug":"je-dunn-nabholz-tapped-for-proposed-825m-arkansas-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/je-dunn-nabholz-tapped-for-proposed-825m-arkansas-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"JE Dunn, Nabholz tapped for proposed $825M Arkansas prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/images\/audio_icon.svg?482016190122\" alt=\"-\"><\/p>\n<p>        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1747684263\/news\/text_to_speech\/je-dunn-nabholz-arkansas-prison-franklin-county_iu85tr.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ed-secondary-content-box ed-secondary-content-box--expandable\">\n<p><strong>Award: <\/strong>State prison<br \/><strong>Value: <\/strong>$825 million<br \/><strong>Location: <\/strong>Franklin County<br \/><strong>Client: <\/strong>Arkansas Board of Corrections<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Nabholz Construction and JE Dunn have been tapped to build a proposed $825 million, 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County, Arkansas, that would be one of the largest public investments in recent state history.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The Arkansas Board of Corrections voted to approve the contracting team made up of Conway, Arkansas-headquartered Nabholz and Kansas City, Missouri-based JE Dunn on Thursday.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The goal of the project is to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/doc.arkansas.gov\/franklin-county-project\/franklin-county-project-faqs\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>address prison overcrowding<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> at the state as well as county level, according to the project website. It would house minimum- to maximum-security inmates. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the purchase of the 815-acre property in the Vesta community just outside of Charleston to host the prison in October 2024.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>However, the state has not yet secured funding for the project, and a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.4029tv.com\/article\/franklin-county-funding-senate-fails-fifth\/64422978\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>bill to appropriate up to $750 million<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> for the prison failed multiple times in the Arkansas State Senate earlier this year, according to 40\/29 News. Many Franklin County residents have pushed back on the plans, citing insufficient infrastructure, challenging topography, a lack of workers and fear of declining property values in the area.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Opponents have questioned the Board of Corrections\u2019 $825 million price tag estimate. In March, an amendment to a failed appropriations bill would have established a restricted reserve fund <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.5newsonline.com\/article\/news\/local\/arkansas-prison\/lawmaker-billion-construction-prison-franklin-county\/527-22104198-cd19-43ec-8db4-7b005a72ada1\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>allocating $1 billion for the project<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, 5 News Online reported, while Gravel &amp; Grit, a nonprofit created to oppose the project, pegs the total cost at $1.5 billion, not including infrastructure upgrades.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Nonetheless, the Corrections Board is using $75 million that had previously been <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/arkansasadvocate.com\/2025\/04\/15\/arkansas-legislative-panel-removes-additional-prison-funding-bill-from-consideration\/#:~:text=State%20lawmakers%20also%20set%20aside,Joint%20Budget%20Committee&#039;s%20meeting%20Monday.\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>appropriated for prison construction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> to move the process forward, the Arkansas Advocate reported May 15.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In October 2024 the Corrections Board also approved a $16.5 million contract with Sacramento, California-based Vanir Construction Management to oversee the project, and picked Omaha, Nebraska-headquartered HDR and Cromwell Architects Engineers of Little Rock, Arkansas, for the design in April.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For now, the state is conducting further environmental studies on the prison site, according to the project website. A <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nw-arkansas\/2025\/05\/14\/franklin-county-prison-archeological-study\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>cultural resource study is also likely<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> to be undertaken to look for cultural and historic artifacts after members of the Chickamauga Nation recently warned that ancestors could be buried there, Axios reported last week.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/je-dunn-nabholz-arkansas-prison-franklin-county\/748522\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Award: &#8230; <a title=\"JE Dunn, Nabholz tapped for proposed $825M Arkansas prison\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/je-dunn-nabholz-tapped-for-proposed-825m-arkansas-prison\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about JE Dunn, Nabholz tapped for proposed $825M Arkansas prison\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}