So....the new 600 seat Walton Arts Center facilty in Fayetteville will be built on the university campus. Although it isn't completely clear it sounds like it will simply be a renovation of the Old Fieldhouse into a concert hall. I'm not even sure what the Old Fieldhouse is- surely they aren't talking about the former gym/ museum??? If so, it is quite the slap in the face for the city of Fayetteville. Stay tuned for more details..........

and here are more details straight from the WAC "This extended study revealed that a 600+ seat music venue could be built by renovating the Old Fieldhouse on the UA campus. This facility would better meet UA needs, and meet WAC needs by opening up space in Baum Walker Hall. In addition, the renovation project would be more cost effective than building a brand new venue."

Yeah, I agree. Opening a Fresh Market and a Whole Foods in the same location is a long shot.

Whole Foods tweeted to the Flyer that there has been no announcement, while they tweeted earlier that it was announced in a conference call. Seems like the Whole Foods tweeter was confused about the initial question, said "yes" thinking that the question was about a location in Texas instead of AR.

https://twitter.com/...035105265680384

But is it possible that Fresh Market would need to order 17.66 tons of concrete for their renovation of the Borders location? I have no clue. Would Heavy Construction of NWA have the wrong business name in their system?

I am officially a happy camper!

I also don't particularly care for most modern art. I think its cool that museums focus on certain genres as people can choose whatever level they'd like to be experiencing. My own criteria for enjoying artwork is that it be done by a human hand, and that it capture beauty. Traditional artwork can inspire, while a lot of modern artwork seems cheap to me. I personally care less about statements or opinions than I do craftsmanship, competence and talent.

The art overall is broad, somewhat bland, fusty, and obviously is limited to American art. Colonial Americana is just not at all what I'm interested in. There are some interesting pieces...just not enough for a repeat, for me.

It's exactly what I would imagine a brand-new, Middle America, art-via-philanthropy museum would be. Still It's a decent start, they have a great building and grounds and plenty o'funding so I expect improvement.

Great building, largely unchallenging art. Certainly worth one visit but I won't go back until the collection improves. I think i was a bit pessimistic though about it being only a regional draw tourism-wise...the museum has gotten a bunch of writeups and I've heard some anecdotes that arty coastal types are making/will make the journey.

I've thought about my position on this a little more today and here's a better explanation of what I think about it.

The master plan that the University is going for is one that gets back to the principles of the original master plan. The buildings will form quadrangles, and define space on campus. They will enclose lawns and small courtyard areas. That is a good, traditional plan for a university campus. It will also provide more density to the campus.

I really think that if you pursue this kind of density, you can't go higher than 4-5 stories and achieve the desired result. It will just be very overwhelming to people at ground level, to look up and be surrounded by 10+ story buildings.

The kind of planning that took place in the 60s that gave us the high-rise dorms pursued a different kind of density. That density was high-rise buildings, surrounded by large areas of open space.

I really think you have to choose one or the other for either to work well. Given the small footprint of the campus, the buildings are, and will continue to be, tightly packed. If you combine that with high-rise structures everywhere you could put one, it would make for an overwhelming landscape, IMO. That is the classic canyon type of environment that I don't consider to be "human scale".

There are many opportunities for greater density. The original law building is a good example. It is a 2 or 2 1/2 story building. That building would be better replaced by a 4-5 story building.

The buildings along Dickson across from the Greek theater. All of those are single-story buildings. I think for good scale and transition, as well as good density, those need to be replaced with 4-5 story buildings.

I think of good infill along the lines of how most of San Francisco or London are built. Those cities have huge areas that consist of tightly-packed 3-6 story buildings. Only particular districts of those cities contain true high-rise structures.

I read the blurb in Arkansas Business about it today too. I'm a bit disappointed that MT isn't involved because in my mind that makes it less likely there will be any street level retail/mixed use component to the project, and I think that would be a very nice component of any project on that lot.