By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
A ceremony was held Tuesday at the National Guard armory in Cabot, even though the $10 million facility is nowhere near finished.
Workers from Nabholz Construction Co., which is building the armory, representatives from the Arkansas National Guard, Mayor Eddie Joe Williams, two city council members and other project supporters gathered to sign the wall that divides the armory in two before it is covered in rocks.
“It’s symbolic,” the mayor said. “It says you’re part of it. The wall is completed and they’re beginning to put the rock on.
“It’s sort of a time capsule of all the people working on it andthe people supporting it,” Williams said.
The rocks that will cover the signatures are part of the facility’s passive heating system. Sunlight coming in through the glass front will heat the rocks that will in turn help heat the building.
Steve Elliott, the architect, designed the armory to be unique. Elliott, who spent 28 years as a guardsman, told the audience during the groundbreaking ceremony that he had been to armories all over the country and they are all much the same.
But the armory located off Hwy. 367 will be somewhat different, he said. Its glass front symbolizes that it is open to the public and its rock wall will be made from Arkansas stone.
To further cut the cost of energy at the facility by 25 to 30 percent, a geo-thermal heating and cooling system is part of the design.
Williams, who pushed for the armory to be built in Cabot, hoped when construction started early in December that it would be completed before he left office.
Williams has opted to run for state Senate instead of re-election for mayor and he hoped construction would take only 12 months.
But he said Tuesday afternoon construction is on schedule despite the rain and the armory is expected to be completed in the spring of 2011.
The economic impact to the area from the armory is expected to be about $1 million a year.
The facility will be home to F Company, a forward support company for the 2nd-153rd Infantry Battalion. F Company is one of six companies, spread over 11 armories in northeast Arkansas, that report to the infantry battalion headquarters in Searcy.
F Company is responsible for re-supplying food, water and other essentials to the Infantry Battalion. They also provide transportation, maintenance, and mess services for the infantry battalion.