Final contracts are signed

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Renovation on Carnall Hall will begin immediately after UA officials signed the final contracts today (March 14) to begin the project. Ann Kemp, vice president of finance and administration for the University of Arkansas system, signed the contract with the Carnall Inn Development Co. LLC on behalf of the UA Board of Trustees.

"The work is scheduled to begin immediately," said David Martinson, associate vice chancellor for Business Affairs.

Carnall Inn Development Co. LLC was hired last October by the UA Board of Trustees to transform the second oldest building on campus into an upscale 49-room hotel and restaurant that will also serve as a classroom for the UA’s hospitality program. The hotel will be called The Inn at Carnall Hall.

Carnall Hall was built in 1906 and served for years as a women’s dormitory. The building was named in honor of Ella Carnall, a professor of English and modern languages, who began teaching at the University in 1891. The first female faculty member at the University of Arkansas, she died in 1895. After closing in 1991, UA officials considered demolishing the building but an effort by local citizens led to the decision to renovate the historic building. Today, Carnall Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

James Lambeth is the architect for the project. The owner of Inn at the Mill in Johnson and the James at the Mill restaurant will bring the restaurant’s chef, Miles James, on board to develop a menu and train students. The University is leasing the building to Lambeth and James. The contract on the lease will continue through 2043.

In addition to the hotel rooms and restaurant, there will be a lower-level kitchen and cooking demonstration area, offices, storage rooms, two main dining/meeting rooms and a private club and lounge that will be patterned after an old British reading room.

According to Martinson, the project is expected to take up to two years to complete.

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