Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – Over one year after a late-night fire destroyed the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s (AGFC) field office in Jonesboro, the agency is ready to start rebuilding.

The AGFC will officially open bids Sept. 10 to begin the reconstruction of the facility. The bidding opened Aug. 8 to Sept. 8, and the mandatory pre-bid meeting was held Aug. 24.

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With the necessary paperwork already in motion, officials expect dirt to start moving soon.

“We’ve already submitted building permits and plans, so once we open the bids and select a contractor, the rebuild should begin fairly quickly,” said Reid Phifer, interim chief of the AGFC’s Operations Division. “We anticipate the building to be complete by early summer 2027.”

The office caught on fire in July 2025, with regional facility maintenance coordinator Matt Nipper telling JRN that the inside was “completely burnt” and destroyed. However, the structure was still standing, with most of the walls intact.

| READ MORE: AGFC: Jonesboro office’s insides ‘completely burnt’ in late-night fire

Courtesy of AGFC

Regardless, AGFC said complete demolition down to the concrete foundation was necessary to ensure a safe environment for the replacement structure. However, the new facility will be at the exact same spot.

“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.

Courtesy of AGFC

One of those changing needs includes a shift in how the building serves the public.

Prior to the fire, the AGFC had already transitioned the building into a dedicated field office rather than a publicly accessible regional office.

While the same number of staff will remain in the area—utilizing newly added storage for equipment—the agency said all public interactions will continue to be directed right next door to the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center.

“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.

Griffith noted that in the past, regional office staff had to juggle public outreach and license sales alongside their field duties in a building better suited for daily operations. Meanwhile, the nature center was purpose-built for outreach and staffed with customer service experts.

“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,” Griffith said. “This change will help reduce that confusion.”

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