By John Worthen
Monday, January 17, 2011

STUTTGART — Grand Prairie Center facility Director Amanda Holsted’s grin widens each time a new nail is hammered into the $15.4 million multipurpose palace on the grounds of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas’ Stuttgart campus.

At 63,000 square feet, the nearly complete structure is slightly larger than the college’s main building and will be the second-largest facility of its kind in southeast Arkansas, behind the 90, 000-square-foot Pine Bluff Convention Center, which is 37 miles away.

The auditorium stage flyloft can be seen from nearly a mile away, and the steep angles and wide expanses of glass that make up the outer shell have residents gawking as they drive by, Holsted said.

“It’s the talk of the town,” she added.

On a recent afternoon, Holsted trotted around the center as construction workers sawed, sanded and painted. The interior corridors were filled with the smell of fresh building materials and the dust of progress.

“We are just so thrilled about this place,” Holsted said, with a pale-pink hard hat affixed snugly to her head. “It’s very exciting for us to be able to be a part of something this big. This is going to be so wonderful for our college and community.”

The center is scheduled for completion in March and has already booked several events, including a cooking show, said Holsted, who’s been on the job less than a year.

The goal is to host gatherings as varied as weddings, family reunions, graduations and concerts. The center’s auditorium will seat 1,500, and two multipurpose salons can accommodate 1,000 visitors when combined, according to material provided by the college.

It will be comparable to the Phillips Community College Fine Arts Center in Helena-West Helena, which seats about 1,200 and, like the Grand Prairie Center, is run by the University of Arkansas System.

City events in Stuttgart were held at the Grand Prairie War Memorial Auditorium until about two years ago, when Phillips Community College began holding additional classes and work-force training there, Holsted said.

In February 2009, plans were developed and fundraising began for the Grand Prairie Center, because “we knew we needed a nice facility to host events for the community and the college,” said Susan Luebke, vice chancellor of Phillips Community College.

“And our community really rallied around us. We had so many people donating money to make this center a reality. It was really a group effort.”

Private donors have given $3.4 million, including a $500,000 donation from Riceland Foods Inc., a $200,000 donation from Producers Rice Mill Inc., a $100,000 donation from Helena Chemical and a $100,000 donation from an unnamed individual with business ties to Stuttgart.

The rest of the money was secured through a combination of state and local sources, along with grants.

“We really got a lot of small and medium-sized gifts from a lot of people in and around the Stuttgart area,” said Steve Murray, chancellor of Phillips Community College.

“We had tremendous support from this community. It was a very long process putting this all together, but it has allowed us to meet the needs of both our students and community.”

Stuttgart Mayor Marianne Maynard expressed pride for her fellow residents after the large fundraising rally. She said it shows a deep commitment for success on a grand scale.

Once the center is complete, she envisions the city, with a population just less than 10,000, as the new cultural hub of southeast Arkansas.

“We are looking for this to boost our economy,” Maynard said Friday via telephone between Municipal League meetings in Little Rock. “I think it will be something that will help bring in tourism dollars to Stuttgart, and we are also anticipating growth in our local hotels and restaurants with it.”

Maynard said she was pleased when she saw the center’s “reasonable rates,” and she hopes that will help attract smaller groups.

“We are a town of fish fries and hamburger suppers and chili suppers,” Maynard said. “This will be a wonderful facility for that, just as it will be for grander events. The goal was to not price out the folks who helped make this happen.”

The center’s auditorium will also give the city a place for an annual business expo, something the city has never had, as well as an expanded health expo, said Stephen Bell, executive vice president of the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce.

“We are also looking forward to our corporations possibly hosting their yearly meetings and functions here, too,” Bell said.

“Right now, most of them are forced to go out of town because there just isn’t anywhere large enough. That’s going to change when the Grand Prairie Center opens. We are going to keep those dollars right here in Stuttgart.”

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/17/2011