39 replies to this topic

[mcheiss]

We've had a lot of talk on cities and potential skyscrapers and such, I wondered which city, besides Little Rock and North Little Rock would be the first to develop a large skyline.

My Vote is Rogers, because there are already around half-a dozen 10-16 story office buildings in the works for Rogers within the next 5 years. They are all clustered around the I-540 corridor, so even though it's not an urban core, it will still have a somewhat decent skyline.

[Mith242]

Hmmmm....there's so many variables just like which city will hit 100,000 first.  I can't say I know Conway or Jonesboro well enough to know what type of buildings they have already.  I have some guesses on Ft Smith but I'm not positive on it either.  Then it also depends on what trends you expect to happen.  Will the skyline develop more from office space or with residential with the way it seems to be going for the monent.  Hot Springs may not be very big but they could even draw in some taller buildings for condos and such.  Fayetteville is larger and more centralized than some northwest Arkansas cities.  But I'm not sure if Fayetteville is worried about having much of a skyline in general.  If there happens to be some good developments that just happen to be tall then fine but otherwise I don't see Fayetteville voting in a lot of taller buildings in general.  Rogers has a lot of potential.  I don't know how soon it might happen but I could see it happening with all the growth and development that seems to be going on.  But I think we might have to wait and see how all of these developments work out and affect how things might go in the future for Rogers.  I'm having a harder time judging this than which city will hit 100,000 first.  I'm going to wait and see if I get any info on some of the other areas before I make a guess.

[GSCullum]

By and far Fayetteville is the only city with the potential for land values to rise high enough for high-rise development.  Other NW cities may develop shorter skylines, but Fayetteville should dominate the region.  I don't see Conway even developing anything over 10 floors in the near future.  Right now the building with the most floors only has 5.  There just isn't any demand for that sort of development here.

[Rural King]

Have to go with Fayetteville probably.

[Aporkalypse]

GSCullum, on Oct 25 2005, 07:55 PM, said:

By and far Fayetteville is the only city with the potential for land values to rise high enough for high-rise development.  Other NW cities may develop shorter skylines, but Fayetteville should dominate the region.  I don't see Conway even developing anything over 10 floors in the near future.  Right now the building with the most floors only has 5.  There just isn't any demand for that sort of development here.

I agree.  Fort Smith has a better downtown design for that kind of CBD development but I don't think they'll ever have the demand for large quantities of office and residential development downtown, especially with Beverly getting the axe.  Fayetteville's design isn't as good and it has a downtown core with high property values but office space isn't nearly as in demand there as in Benton Co.  That could easily change in a decade or two, I guess.  The problem with Fayetteville is where to put it - I don't think historic areas near the Square of Dickson could be touched and Fayetteville is the kind of place that might even place height restrictions.

Even if places like Rogers or Conway developed some mid-rise or high-rise buildings they wouldn't be in a downtown per se - they would be haphazard in office parks and would not be a "skyline" as such, just as the development along the North Dallas Tollway and North Central Expressway doesn't constitute one.

[Aporkalypse]

Interestingly, it wasn't that long ago your list would probably read:

1) Fort Smith
2) Pine Bluff
3) El Dorado
4) Texarkana
5) Jonesboro/Fayetteville

My how things change in a couple of decades.

[mcheiss]

Aporkalypse, on Oct 25 2005, 09:32 PM, said:

I agree.  Fort Smith has a better downtown design for that kind of CBD development but I don't think they'll ever have the demand for large quantities of office and residential development downtown, especially with Beverly getting the axe.  Fayetteville's design isn't as good and it has a downtown core with high property values but office space isn't nearly as in demand there as in Benton Co.  That could easily change in a decade or two, I guess.  The problem with Fayetteville is where to put it - I don't think historic areas near the Square of Dickson could be touched and Fayetteville is the kind of place that might even place height restrictions.

Even if places like Rogers or Conway developed some mid-rise or high-rise buildings they wouldn't be in a downtown per se - they would be haphazard in office parks and would not be a "skyline" as such, just as the development along the North Dallas Tollway and North Central Expressway doesn't constitute one.

There's about 3 or 4 midrises being constructed over by Pinnacle, along with 1 high rise that I can think of that will be done by 2008. Plus, there's plenty of land and 15 banking locations moving to the area. I think Rogers has the best shot, not because I live there , but because of the demand for tall buildings in Benton County, the fact that Fayetteville's Planning Commision would turn down large scale projects and because there is over $1 Billion in Development within 1 square Mile of the Pinnacle Area!!

Edited by mcheiss, 25 October 2005 - 08:43 PM.

[johnnydr87]

Fayetteville.  Rogers has some nice midrises planned...but I just can't see it happening....

Fayetteville is growing fast and has a more "urban feel" on Dickson street on the first place.

Conway is just a giant suburb...i.e. sprawl.

Jonesboro is too close to Memphis and not powerful enough by itself.

Rogers....sounds like its getting some nice office parks and a few highrises here and there.

Hot Springs- the outlying communities are growing fast.  I'd say Hot Springs has the biggest skyline by far now.  Downtown hot springs has many  buildings ~5+ stories.  They're all old of course.  Also, we have many, many buildings over 10 stories tall scattered throughout the city (hotels, etc.) ....sort of like Rogers.....still, these types of building don't define a skyline.

Fort Smith is pretty much stagnant.

Bentonville is still too much like a suburb.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Oct 25 2005, 09:35 PM, said:

Interestingly, it wasn't that long ago your list would probably read:

1) Fort Smith
2) Pine Bluff
3) El Dorado
4) Texarkana
5) Jonesboro/Fayetteville

My how things change in a couple of decades.

How true, who knows what will lay in store a couple of decades from now.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Oct 26 2005, 02:00 PM, said:

How true, who knows what will lay in store a couple of decades from now.

Do you see other parts of the state becoming more revitalized and surpassing NW Arkansas or Central Arkansas?

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Oct 26 2005, 02:03 PM, said:

Do you see other parts of the state becoming more revitalized and surpassing NW Arkansas or Central Arkansas?

While it's certainly not impossible I don't think so.  I can see northwest Arkansas slowing down and other areas doing well.  But I don't know if I could see any other area getting close to central or northwest Arkansas even in the next couple of decades.

[lefty]

I voted Rogers.  Parts of Rogers are just going crazy, and I think that'll continue for a bit.

But I still think that Lowell has a good chance for some stuff later on down the road.  If that 412 bypass is ever completed, Lowell will be near the intersection of 2 very big roads.

Plus, JB Hunt is already there, along with a few other things.

Edited by lefty, 26 October 2005 - 01:28 PM.

[mcheiss]

There is some good land around Arkansas 264 that would be perfect for high rises. They were going to put that Mahiki Beach Water Park there, but the pulled it off the land due to traffic and water concerns. There was talk also on that same land to put in a truck stop of some kind, but I think that land is much better deserving of a truck stop.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Oct 26 2005, 02:31 PM, said:

There is some good land around Arkansas 264 that would be perfect for high rises. They were going to put that Mahiki Beach Water Park there, but the pulled it off the land due to traffic and water concerns. There was talk also on that same land to put in a truck stop of some kind, but I think that land is much better deserving of a truck stop.

Did you ever hear what's going on with that water park?  It's had a rather complicated history.  First it was going to Fayetteville, but of course Fayetteville was a bit picky about it's design.  Then apparently the company that was going to do all of this split.  Then one part of the company was going to build in fayetteville, the other was goign with Lowell.  ThenI think the side that had picked Fayetteville dropped out.  Then the other side that picked Lowell decided that the area there couldn't handle the water needs.  That's the last I've heard of all that.  Is there going to be any water park somewhere in northwest Arkansas?

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Oct 26 2005, 02:39 PM, said:

Did you ever hear what's going on with that water park?  It's had a rather complicated history.  First it was going to Fayetteville, but of course Fayetteville was a bit picky about it's design.  Then apparently the company that was going to do all of this split.  Then one part of the company was going to build in fayetteville, the other was goign with Lowell.  ThenI think the side that had picked Fayetteville dropped out.  Then the other side that picked Lowell decided that the area there couldn't handle the water needs.  That's the last I've heard of all that.  Is there going to be any water park somewhere in northwest Arkansas?

Not much, except that Pinnacle is still looking at sites around lowell.

[johnnydr87]

Outside of central Arkansas and NW AR, Jonesboro is the only city that has any chance of growing really fast.  

Then again, besides Pine Bluff, it pretty much is the only real city outside of C AR and NW AR..... (ok, half of Texarkana and perhaps west memphis....maybe el dorado)

[Mith242]

johnnydr87, on Oct 26 2005, 04:01 PM, said:

Outside of central Arkansas and NW AR, Jonesboro is the only city that has any chance of growing really fast.  

Then again, besides Pine Bluff, it pretty much is the only real city outside of C AR and NW AR..... (ok, half of Texarkana and perhaps west memphis....maybe el dorado)

True, Pine Bluff certainly has an urban feel to it.  I hadn't thought about it much before but I wonder how tall the Simmons Building is in Pine Bluff.  Wouldn't it be interesting if somehow Pine Bluff got things turned around sometime in the near future and end up living up to expectations people thought in the 60's.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Oct 27 2005, 05:36 AM, said:

True, Pine Bluff certainly has an urban feel to it.  I hadn't thought about it much before but I wonder how tall the Simmons Building is in Pine Bluff.  Wouldn't it be interesting if somehow Pine Bluff got things turned around sometime in the near future and end up living up to expectations people thought in the 60's.

A major company or something would have to move there.

Simmons Bank building is 11 stories and was actually built in 1929 believe it or not.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Oct 27 2005, 01:31 PM, said:

A major company or something would have to move there.

Simmons Bank building is 11 stories and was actually built in 1929 believe it or not.

Guess I thought it was in the upper teens at least.  Also didn't think it was that old either.  Are we talking about more than one building?  I'm pretty sure the building I've seen in downtown Pine Bluff isn't that old looking.  It has that 50's/60's look to it.  I know the 60's were a boom time for Pine Bluff.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Oct 27 2005, 03:03 PM, said:

Guess I thought it was in the upper teens at least.  Also didn't think it was that old either.  Are we talking about more than one building?  I'm pretty sure the building I've seen in downtown Pine Bluff isn't that old looking.  It has that 50's/60's look to it.  I know the 60's were a boom time for Pine Bluff.

That's what Emporis has it listed as.

I'm not to familiar with Pine Bluff, and it's hard for me to believe it also. I saw the building on their website and it said 1929.