Jonesboro, Arkansas – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is preparing to take another step toward restoring its Jonesboro field office after the building was destroyed by a fire last year.
The agency is expected to open bids Thursday for contractors interested in handling the reconstruction of the office at 600 E. Lawson Road. The bidding period ran from Aug. 8 through Sept. 8, and a mandatory pre-bid meeting was held Aug. 24, according to a news release from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Once a contractor is selected, construction is expected to move ahead relatively quickly. Building permits and plans have already been submitted, meaning much of the preparation for the project is in place.
“We’ve already submitted building permits and plans, so once we open the bids and select a contractor the rebuild should begin fairly quickly,” Reid Phifer, interim chief of the AGFC’s Operations Division, said. “We anticipate the building to be complete by early summer 2027.”
The Jonesboro office was destroyed in a fire in July 2025. While portions of the structure remained standing after the blaze, the AGFC determined that the safest approach was to demolish the building down to its foundation before rebuilding.
The replacement building will use that same foundation. As a result, the basic footprint of the office will remain unchanged, but the interior will be modified to better reflect how the facility is now used by agency employees.
“We actually will be using the same foundation, so the building will have the same footprint, but we have altered a few things on the interior to better meet the changing needs of staff in the office,” Phifer said. “The building has transitioned to a field office instead of a publicly accessible regional office, but we’re maintaining the same number of staff in the area and adding more storage for their equipment.”
The change in the building’s role is not entirely new. The AGFC had already transitioned the location from a regional office to a field office before the fire. That move was made in part to make better use of the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center, which is located next door.
The nature center will continue to serve as the main location for members of the public who need assistance or want to take part in agency programs.
“The nature center is our primary contact point with everyone in the public, and we want to focus all eyes on that facility,” AGFC Deputy Director Spencer Griffith said. “Staff at the regional office had to manage public outreach, sell licenses and manage their field duties in a facility that was better suited for operations and business functions. The nature center is built for public outreach and staffed with education, outreach and customer service staff who can better assist the public with inquiries and visits. In many instances, people would mistakenly arrive at the regional office and be directed to the nature center to handle their license purchase or take their Hunter or Boater Education course. This change will help reduce that confusion.”
The rebuilt facility therefore will be designed around the needs of AGFC field staff rather than regular public visits. The agency plans to keep the same number of employees working in the area while increasing storage capacity for equipment.
For the Jonesboro community, the project marks the next stage in bringing the agency’s local operations back after the destructive 2025 fire. With permits and plans already submitted, the AGFC expects reconstruction to begin after the bidding and contractor selection process is completed.
If the project follows the agency’s current schedule, the rebuilt Jonesboro field office should be finished by early summer 2027, giving local AGFC staff a new facility while the nearby nature center continues as the primary public-facing location.
