664 replies to this topic

[Mith242]

While Benton County is certainly the hot spot I wouldn't say Fayetteville is dead.  Not sure where he got that from.  I agree with you guys I think Fayetteville really could use one if not two nice upscale hotels.  We may not have all the business travelers as Benton County does but I would think that Fayetteville's downtown area could draw in more upscale tourist if there was a better hotel around the area.  Wonder what Fayetteville did to get him to say something like that.  Maybe Fayetteville turned down one of his hotels in the past or something.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Nov 30 2005, 05:11 PM, said:

While Benton County is certainly the hot spot I wouldn't say Fayetteville is dead.  Not sure where he got that from.  I agree with you guys I think Fayetteville really could use one if not two nice upscale hotels.  We may not have all the business travelers as Benton County does but I would think that Fayetteville's downtown area could draw in more upscale tourist if there was a better hotel around the area.  Wonder what Fayetteville did to get him to say something like that.  Maybe Fayetteville turned down one of his hotels in the past or something.

I wondered the same.

There are always going to be guests coming to the University or parents coming to see their children that want a decent place to stay and are more Hilton types than La Quinta types.  That's why I think Fayetteville merits more nice hotels.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 30 2005, 05:15 PM, said:

I wondered the same.

There are always going to be guests coming to the University or parents coming to see their children that want a decent place to stay and are more Hilton types than La Quinta types.  That's why I think Fayetteville merits more nice hotels.

I agree with you there too.  At least the Renaissance Tower will have a Crowne Plaza.  Although as Matt said it won't be a very big one with much of the tower being used for other purposes also.  I'd still like to see another nice hotel in Fayetteville sometime in the near future.  Let's show Hammons he missed out.  

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 30 2005, 06:36 PM, said:

I agree with you there too.  At least the Renaissance Tower will have a Crowne Plaza.  Although as Matt said it won't be a very big one with much of the tower being used for other purposes also.  I'd still like to see another nice hotel in Fayetteville sometime in the near future.  Let's show Hammons he missed out.  

I don't think Hammons slammed Fayetteville because he missed out, but more that he thought Benton County was where all the growth was going to be, and especially with Wal-Mart, it's vendors, and JB Hunt, he felt the need that an upscale hotel was needed in Benton County.

I do think that Fayetteville could use another upscale hotel, I don't know where it would go, other than Downtown.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Dec 1 2005, 07:42 AM, said:

I don't think Hammons slammed Fayetteville because he missed out, but more that he thought Benton County was where all the growth was going to be, and especially with Wal-Mart, it's vendors, and JB Hunt, he felt the need that an upscale hotel was needed in Benton County.

I do think that Fayetteville could use another upscale hotel, I don't know where it would go, other than Downtown.

I do think downtown is the obvious choice for an upscale hotel.  I think in a few years much of the downtown area will be a great place to be and I'm hoping there wilol be considerations for another upscale hotel in the area.

[Aporkalypse]

mcheiss, on Dec 1 2005, 07:42 AM, said:

I don't think Hammons slammed Fayetteville because he missed out, but more that he thought Benton County was where all the growth was going to be, and especially with Wal-Mart, it's vendors, and JB Hunt, he felt the need that an upscale hotel was needed in Benton County.

I do think that Fayetteville could use another upscale hotel, I don't know where it would go, other than Downtown.

It wasn't growth he mentioned as much as the presence of many discount motels.  He felt that Fayetteville was overbuilt with cheaper motels and that Benton Co was underserved, even before it started growing.  Judging from the big gap between LR area hotels and what's available in NWA I think he's right.  I just don't see how all of the "discount motels" as he called them really change anything as they are targeting a different demographic.

Regardless, they'll all cost $200 a night on game weekends.  Bastages.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Dec 2 2005, 02:01 PM, said:

It wasn't growth he mentioned as much as the presence of many discount motels.  He felt that Fayetteville was overbuilt with cheaper motels and that Benton Co was underserved, even before it started growing.  Judging from the big gap between LR area hotels and what's available in NWA I think he's right.  I just don't see how all of the "discount motels" as he called them really change anything as they are targeting a different demographic.

Regardless, they'll all cost $200 a night on game weekends.  Bastages.

I do agree with the fact that Benton County was underserved.  And that is where a lot of growth is going on and it's only natural to focus a lot on that area.  I just don't think Fayetteville should be overlooked as he seems to be doing.  I also agree with you on the 'discount motels'.  I don't think people considering staying at a upsclae hotel are going to change their minds because they can save a few bucks staying at a discount motel.

[Mith242]

Mith242, on Dec 2 2005, 02:08 PM, said:

I do agree with the fact that Benton County was underserved.  And that is where a lot of growth is going on and it's only natural to focus a lot on that area.  I just don't think Fayetteville should be overlooked as he seems to be doing.  I also agree with you on the 'discount motels'.  I don't think people considering staying at a upsclae hotel are going to change their minds because they can save a few bucks staying at a discount motel.

Well looks like the info about the Renaissance Tower having a Crowne Plaza Hotel were wrong.  Apparently the previous owners of the buildings had been looking into a partnership with Crowne Plaza.  The current owners have said they haven't contected Crowne Plaza.  So I guess we still don't know what hotel will be associated with the Renaissance Tower.  There was an article today in the Northwest Arkansas Times talking about how they will have to keep having lanes shut down around the project most of the time next year.  Looks like possibly into the 2007 year also.  Apparently the facade of the building is projected to be finished in Feb 2007.  The whole place won't be ready till football season later that year though.


Maybe I can bug Matt to change the title of this topic to Renaissance Tower Dvelopment in Fayetteville.  When I first posted this I didn't know what was going to be the name of the new development.  At the time they were mainly talking the demolition of the old Mountain Inn.

[mcheiss]

^ That's a shame.

I'll change the title of it for you no problem.

Any ideas on the hotel though?

[mcheiss]

There, it's been changed to the Renaissance Tower Development in Fayetteville.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Dec 8 2005, 04:27 PM, said:

There, it's been changed to the Renaissance Tower Development in Fayetteville.

Thanks, I like to have this topic focus more on the future and not on what this area used to be.

[Mith242]

I posted a pic with a rendering of the future Renaissance Tower but never any of the construction zone.  So now I'll finally post some pics of the sign again and the construction zone.  The first pic was taken in Novermber the rest in October.

Edited by Mith242, 10 December 2005 - 06:05 PM.

[mcheiss]

Thanks for the pics!!

Do they have any plans for those run-down buildings in the background. I'd really like to see them preserve those buildings and make mixed-use projects out of them.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Dec 10 2005, 11:53 PM, said:

Thanks for the pics!!

Do they have any plans for those run-down buildings in the background. I'd really like to see them preserve those buildings and make mixed-use projects out of them.

Those are actually some restaurants on Center Street.  Hoffbrau, A Taste of Thai, and the future downtown La Huerta location.  They just look bad from the back.  Although I admit I'm not sure what the upper floors are used for.  There is one building that isn't currently a restaurant and it looked like quite a bit of it was in bad shape but it looks like they were rebuilding it and not tearing it down.

Edited by Mith242, 11 December 2005 - 07:28 AM.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Dec 11 2005, 07:27 AM, said:

Those are actually some restaurants on Center Street.  Hoffbrau, A Taste of Thai, and the future downtown La Huerta location.  They just look bad from the back.  Although I admit I'm not sure what the upper floors are used for.  There is one building that isn't currently a restaurant and it looked like quite a bit of it was in bad shape but it looks like they were rebuilding it and not tearing it down.

You'd think Condos would be the perfect choice for those.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Dec 11 2005, 12:02 PM, said:

You'd think Condos would be the perfect choice for those.

I'll have some more pics to post a little later.  I'm still slowly trying to get all the pics I took yesterday uploaded and posted.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Dec 11 2005, 12:04 PM, said:

I'll have some more pics to post a little later.  I'm still slowly trying to get all the pics I took yesterday uploaded and posted.

Awesome!!

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Dec 11 2005, 12:17 PM, said:

Awesome!!

Now I just have to find the time.  Maybe I need to cut back on the other forums till I get all my pics done.  I haven't even finished what I took yesterday.

[Mith242]

Okay here's some more shots of the development site.  Some of these will look like some I have already posted.  These were taken from the south side of the development on Mountain St.  I recently found out they will be shutting down this street quite a bit in the future.  I think starting some time in January, maybe that's when some serious stuff starts happening.  I wish I could take some from the east side, but there's no sidewalk anymore and it's already taken one lane of College Ave.  I don't think I want to walk into the only southbound lane of College to see if I can get a shot.  There are also some closeups of some of the still existing buildings.  I will post some more pics from that side soon.

[Mith242]

Now here's some pics from the north side on Center Street.  You can't see much because there are still buildings over there that are staying.  But you can now see that the back side of the buildings look a lot worse than the fronts.  I noticed the back of some of these buildings have doors. I guess they'll get rid of those.  I wish I could get some other views.  I guess I should have seen if I could get anything from the other side of College Ave to get some views from the east.  You can't see anything from the west side because the Bank of America Building.  Which apparently will soon become a condo or mixed-use building itself.  I'll make it a seperate topic for it.

















Most of the bottom level is restaurants.  Nothing in the upper levels yet, although they might have to wait till the development if finished.  May not be popular space while all the major construction is going on.  I'm guessing it will either be office space or possibly more condos.

Edited by Mith242, 11 December 2005 - 02:09 PM.