11 replies to this topic

[RemusCal]

Ok...If Benton County goes WET eventually, where would the most likely place be to start an entertainment district?

Many say downtown Bentonville would be great.  I could agree since there is a major art museum underway.  I think a great area would be over between the JB Hunt exit and the Pleasant Grove Road exit on the left side of I540.  I really think that Benton County needs an entertainment district badly.

What do you think?

[Aporkalypse]

It already is wet, at least compared to a decade ago.

[Mith242]

I'm not as familiar with Benton County as some, but I also think downtown Bentonville would make an interesting choice.  The art museum might make some interesting comparisons to the Walton Art Cneter and Dickson St.  Although I don't think you could quite get the same atmosphere without the university students just down the street like you have on Dickson.  Benton County is certainly a very 'wet' dry county.  But you still have to go to a restaurant.  There are no bars or pubs.  I personally think having the county wet would make a more interesting entertainment district viable.  I know not everyone in Benton County wants it to be wet, but I really think it's just a matter of time before enough out of state people have moved in and are able to overturn it.  But back to the original question, does anyone have any suggestions for something say in Rogers?  Does anyone think there could be an entertainment district somewhere near the Pinnacle Hills area?

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Sep 25 2005, 07:14 PM, said:

I'm not as familiar with Benton County as some, but I also think downtown Bentonville would make an interesting choice.  The art museum might make some interesting comparisons to the Walton Art Cneter and Dickson St.  Although I don't think you could quite get the same atmosphere without the university students just down the street like you have on Dickson.  Benton County is certainly a very 'wet' dry county.  But you still have to go to a restaurant.  There are no bars or pubs.  I personally think having the county wet would make a more interesting entertainment district viable.  I know not everyone in Benton County wants it to be wet, but I really think it's just a matter of time before enough out of state people have moved in and are able to overturn it.  But back to the original question, does anyone have any suggestions for something say in Rogers?  Does anyone think there could be an entertainment district somewhere near the Pinnacle Hills area?

There are actually two true bars that I know of in Benton County. The first one is The Bayou which is across from the Price Cutter in Rogers off Dixeland Street. The other is the Deja Vu Piano Bar which opened just recently off of Rainbow Curve in Bentonville which is mainly upscale. I really could not see an entertainment district near the Pinnacle Hills area. First, the developers of Pinnacle Hills, Bill Schwyhart, J.B. Hunt, Tim Graham, etc., have stated that they would like to sell the area "Pinnacle Hills" area as condo/retail/upscale office space. The Pinnacle Group really is trying to create an upscale urban core that really is not felt anywhere in Northwest Arkansas, (Not even Fayetteville). Pinnacle has multiple designs for massive condo and office buildings, as high as 16 stories and they really would like to cater to the upscale urban dwellers. I could see may'be a lounge or a few bars in the area but they would more than likely be upscale and not fit in well with an entertainment district. There really is only one restaurant so far that is planning on selling alchol in the Pinnacle Area (Carrabbas Italian Grill), of course that is obviously change when the developers announce the 6 national restaurants that are to be in the Pinnacle Promenade. I just don't think that the developers of the Pinnacle Area would want to put in an entertainment district when the can build massive multi-story condos and office space and make a lot more money.

Back on topic, I think an entertainment district could be feasable off Pleasant Grove Road in Rogers as RemusCal stated. For one, Charles C Reaves (Developer of Pleasant Crossing) has announced that a sister project to his massive 1.2 Million square foot lifestyle center and Power Center under construction which would be on the west side of Pleasant Grove Road, which is said to be 150 acres bought from the Mills Family. This would be an excellent place for an entertainment district do to it being so centrally located in Northwest Arkansas and the excellent retail and mixed-use projects going on along it.

Edited by mcheiss, 26 September 2005 - 01:24 PM.

[johnnydr87]

Personally, I couldn't ever imagine an entertainment district in Benton County like that of Fayetteville or Little Rock.  Fay and LR both have large college campuses to fuel their entertainment districts.  As far as I know, Benton County is predominantly made up of complete opposite sides of the economic spectrum:  the poor and the rich.  (The rich will certainly have their exclusive, up-scale venues....and the poor will probably have their own little bars.)    


Granted, I don't know much about Benton County.

[mcheiss]

johnnydr87, on Sep 26 2005, 02:57 PM, said:

Personally, I couldn't ever imagine an entertainment district in Benton County like that of Fayetteville or Little Rock.  Fay and LR both have large college campuses to fuel their entertainment districts.  As far as I know, Benton County is predominantly made up of complete opposite sides of the economic spectrum:  the poor and the rich.  (The rich will certainly have their exclusive, up-scale venues....and the poor will probably have their own little bars.)    
Granted, I don't know much about Benton County.

True, There's no way an entertainment district like Fayetteville's would ever happen in Benton County. But a much smaller one centrally located in the Entire Northwest Arkansas Area that would be in Benton County could happen.

[Mith242]

I wasn't aware there were any bars in Benton County or that they would be legal.  I thought only restaurants were allowed to sell alcohol.  Of course I imagine these 'bars' have to sell food and focus to a certain extent on it.  But anyway I would imagine that Rogers will eventually try to develop something.  They seem to have done a pretty good job with planning for development and so on.  I guess it's more a question of where in Rogers.  I'm not sure if Rogers would just sit back and let Bentonville try to develop their own entertainment district without trying to get in on the action themselves.  I'm probably not familiar enough with Benton County to make any good suggestions though.

[johnnydr87]

Right, I was assuming that Benton county would be wet in this hypothetical thread.  It's not.

[Mith242]

johnnydr87, on Sep 26 2005, 03:17 PM, said:

Right, I was assuming that Benton county would be wet in this hypothetical thread.  It's not.

No at least not yet, but I really think it will sometime in the near future.

[redcoatgirl]

RemusCal, on Sep 25 2005, 02:41 PM, said:

Ok...If Benton County goes WET eventually, where would the most likely place be to start an entertainment district?

Many say downtown Bentonville would be great.  I could agree since there is a major art museum underway.  I think a great area would be over between the JB Hunt exit and the Pleasant Grove Road exit on the left side of I540.  I really think that Benton County needs an entertainment district badly.

What do you think?

***
I completely agree about downtown Bentonville. Imagine what a bar on the Square would do for night life downtown! Also, for the record, there are actually other true bars in Benton County besides Deja Vu and the Bayou — don't forget Club Frisco in downtown Rogers, near the Palms Plaza (which is also a bar), and the Ice House, that's opening in downtown Bentonville within the next few weeks. The Ice House will be AWESOME.

[Mith242]

redcoatgirl, on Feb 28 2006, 03:32 PM, said:

***
I completely agree about downtown Bentonville. Imagine what a bar on the Square would do for night life downtown! Also, for the record, there are actually other true bars in Benton County besides Deja Vu and the Bayou — don't forget Club Frisco in downtown Rogers, near the Palms Plaza (which is also a bar), and the Ice House, that's opening in downtown Bentonville within the next few weeks. The Ice House will be AWESOME.

Welcome to the forum redcoatgirl.  I take it that you're from or living in Benton County.  Feel free to join in on the topics of discussion here.  

[mcheiss]

redcoatgirl, on Feb 28 2006, 03:32 PM, said:

***
I completely agree about downtown Bentonville. Imagine what a bar on the Square would do for night life downtown! Also, for the record, there are actually other true bars in Benton County besides Deja Vu and the Bayou — don't forget Club Frisco in downtown Rogers, near the Palms Plaza (which is also a bar), and the Ice House, that's opening in downtown Bentonville within the next few weeks. The Ice House will be AWESOME.

Welcome Redcoatgirl to Urban Planet!! I'm glad you found us here.

I agree that bars in downtown Bentonville would be great for downtown life, it would probably help fuel the mixed use development as well. Can you inform me on Club Frisco, I can't say I've ever heard of it actually. I always thought that the Palms Plaza was a Sports Bar that was more focused on food that alcholic drink.