Head of U.S. Small Business Administration visits Rogers on Thursday to survey May 26 storm damage

ROGERS — Small business owners affected by the May 26 storm will never recover the lower costs for building space and contractors they had years before when they started their businesses in booming Northwest Arkansas, a representative group told the chief administrator for the federal Small Business Administration on Thursday.

“I looked at one building with 30% less space for 60% more” in rent than the building his business was in, said Patrick Stewart of Ozark Axe House in an interview. His business signed a long-term lease five and a half years ago, he said.

The Ozark Axe House building in downtown Rogers was destroyed in the May 26 storm that caused widespread damage in Benton County and other parts of northern Arkansas.

Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, visited Rogers Thursday to survey damage from that storm and receive an update on the recovery process from local, state and federal officials.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, joined Guzman on a tour of the storm-damaged areas Thursday morning before participating in a roundtable meeting at the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce with business owners — including Stewart — who were impacted by the storm.

Guzman also was scheduled to be part of a press conference in Bentonville at noon.