27 replies to this topic

[mcheiss]

I thought this would be a good topic to discuss what the future of Northwest Arkansas may be.

I'll start with some of my predictions for the future.

The Bella Vista Bypass will be built and be at limited toll road.

The Interstate frontage in Rogers will become the center's financial and office hub. It will encompass a small to midsized metro.

The Interstate will be widened to 6-8 lanes.

Springdale will have 4 high schools by 2020.

Highfill will be a community of several thousands.

Another large college will be in the vacinity.

XNA will have surpased Little Rock National in passengers by 2020 and be the state's main airport.

Tell me some of your guys thoughts.

[RemusCal]

mcheiss, on Nov 11 2005, 02:04 PM, said:

I thought this would be a good topic to discuss what the future of Northwest Arkansas may be.

I'll start with some of my predictions for the future.

The Bella Vista Bypass will be built and be at limited toll road.

The Interstate frontage in Rogers will become the center's financial and office hub. It will encompass a small to midsized metro.

The Interstate will be widened to 6-8 lanes.

Springdale will have 4 high schools by 2020.

Highfill will be a community of several thousands.

Another large college will be in the vacinity.

XNA will have surpased Little Rock National in passengers by 2020 and be the state's main airport.

Tell me some of your guys thoughts.

I see many of the same things you do.  I do see the interstate widened to 6-8 lanes.

XNA will be an international airport.

NWACC will be a primary institution and we could possibly have a private medical school by then.

Mercy Health will be the primary hospital in NWA.

Fayetteville will have an urban core around dickson street and the square.

Rogers Pinnacle Hills area will be the office and financial core to the north.

The springdale bypass will be built and will be a tollway.

A western bypass will be built and be a tollway.

Work on a light rail would have begun.

We will see another major mall pop up in the area.  Maybe in springdale to the west or to the west of Bentonville.

The sports and Entertainment complex will be built in Springdale.

U of A Enrollment will have surpassed 30,000 students.

We will be a major market similar to markets in Dallas, Atlanta, and Kansas City.

Jane Missouri and the surround SE missouri will be a major retail center around Walmart and people will continue to flock there.

Bella Vista will be part of the metro and a city.

[mcheiss]

RemusCal, on Nov 11 2005, 02:27 PM, said:

I see many of the same things you do.  I do see the interstate widened to 6-8 lanes.

XNA will be an international airport.

NWACC will be a primary institution and we could possibly have a private medical school by then.

Mercy Health will be the primary hospital in NWA.

Fayetteville will have an urban core around dickson street and the square.

Rogers Pinnacle Hills area will be the office and financial core to the north.

The springdale bypass will be built and will be a tollway.

A western bypass will be built and be a tollway.

Work on a light rail would have begun.

We will see another major mall pop up in the area.  Maybe in springdale to the west or to the west of Bentonville.

The sports and Entertainment complex will be built in Springdale.

U of A Enrollment will have surpassed 30,000 students.

We will be a major market similar to markets in Dallas, Atlanta, and Kansas City.

Jane Missouri and the surround SE missouri will be a major retail center around Walmart and people will continue to flock there.

Bella Vista will be part of the metro and a city.

NWACC will be a 4 year university probably. It's enrollment is around 6,000+, which makes it the second biggest 2 year school in Arkansas, next to Pulaski Tech. College.

I also see more condo projects being announced in Benton County.

[Aporkalypse]

I see the focus moving away from the four larger towns and gradually rural Washington and Benton Cos filling up with residential development with office and retail development continuing to straddle I-540.  I see I-540 widening to 6 lanes and a much-needed regional bus system established.  Most importantly for long term survival, I see diversification away from the Wal-Mart/Tyson/JB Hunt dominated economy as lots of smaller independent companies choose NWA.  I see continued steady growth.  I see a small arena and small convention center as entertainment venues, possibly an outdoor concert venue, and minor league hockey and baseball.  I also would bet we'll see vast improvement in the health care system and 1-2 quality small private college prep schools.


I don't see the airport growing that much, largely because it serves a limited area with several other airports surrounding it (Tulsa, Little Rock, Springfield-Branson).  I do see a proliferation of schools and with it probably some decline in quality of academics and athletics.  I think NWA would be wise to start magnet schools and it certainly could support them, Texarkana already does.

[mcheiss]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 11 2005, 02:49 PM, said:

I see the focus moving away from the four larger towns and gradually rural Washington and Benton Cos filling up with residential development with office and retail development continuing to straddle I-540.  I see I-540 widening to 6 lanes and a much-needed regional bus system established.  Most importantly for long term survival, I see diversification away from the Wal-Mart/Tyson/JB Hunt dominated economy as lots of smaller independent companies choose NWA.  I see continued steady growth.  I see a small arena and small convention center as entertainment venues, possibly an outdoor concert venue, and minor league hockey and baseball.  I also would bet we'll see vast improvement in the health care system and 1-2 quality small private college prep schools.
I don't see the airport growing that much, largely because it serves a limited area with several other airports surrounding it (Tulsa, Little Rock, Springfield-Branson).  I do see a proliferation of schools and with it probably some decline in quality of academics and athletics.  I think NWA would be wise to start magnet schools and it certainly could support them, Texarkana already does.

Any other schools districts beside Little Rock and Texarkana that have magnet schools in Arkansas?

[RemusCal]

I also see Fayetteville being a mecca for biotech companies that deal with the environment in any way, espeically because of the natural beauty of the city.  I think Fayetteville will definitely be a magnet for many biotech companies and startups in the future.

[mcheiss]

RemusCal, on Nov 11 2005, 03:35 PM, said:

I also see Fayetteville being a mecca for biotech companies that deal with the environment in any way, espeically because of the natural beauty of the city.  I think Fayetteville will definitely be a magnet for many biotech companies and startups in the future.

If the university starts a great tech program, it could attract a lot of tech jobs. There's some nice sites in Fayetteville that would go great with tech buildings and such.

I hope XNA also gets on the ball and gets a super-project out there. We came so close with Boeing and Canadair.

[Mith242]

Well a lot of bold predictions being made.  I do think we will have to have toll roads to get our road projects finished.  The state just isn't going to have the money for them to be built.  I don't know if I'm ready to make any precise predictions.  I have two paths in my head that I think northwest Arkansas can take considering nothing drastic happens to really kill off our growth.  Either the area finally hits a point where the cities work together better and the area also becomes more of an urban metro.  The other path I see is a northwest Arkansas that remains fractionalized and never becomes a cohesive metro and sprawl and development simply keep spilling out in all corners of the two county center.  I still think there are more people who want the area to feel like it's a smaller type metro/city than for it to feel like a more urban type area that it can be.  I still think there's a hump there for us to get over in the near future over how this area will develop.  I'm just curious to see how people end up dealing with that when the time comes.

[mcheiss]

Yes, Toll's are the future of NW Arkansas as well.

The 412 Bypass isn't likely to get much funding in the future, I think the best option for it is to become a toll road.

The same with Bella Vista Bypass, it's a project needed, but funding is short, and if we want future transportation options in the futue, we have to start thinking of toll roads.

[Aporkalypse]

RemusCal, on Nov 11 2005, 03:35 PM, said:

I also see Fayetteville being a mecca for biotech companies that deal with the environment in any way, espeically because of the natural beauty of the city.  I think Fayetteville will definitely be a magnet for many biotech companies and startups in the future.

Biotech is largely medical and it's very difficult to start up a large number of biotech cos without a medical school for them to spin off of.  UAMS just built a fairly large freestanding "biotech incubator" just off campus called Arkansas Bioventures.  I have no idea how it's doing.

[Mith242]

I'm not sure about the biotech, but I can see Fayetteville trying to slowly get more into the tech jobs.  It fits because it's a college town and it gives the city something since we don't have a huge company like Wal-mart or Tyson in the city.

[Mith242]

Not quite sure where to put this, but this seems a good enough area.  Arkansas Business had an interesting article talkiing about how well the northwest Arkansas and Hot Springs metros have been performing.  It even mentioned that although it has a long way to go northwest Arkansas could become the biggest the biggest economic force in this area.  Ironic that the same area was the poorest area of the state 50 years ago.  Here's a link to the article.

http://www.arkansasb...id=21&aid=42330

[mcheiss]

The low unemployment rate for NWA scares me a bit.

3.2% is pretty low.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 13 2005, 11:34 AM, said:

The low unemployment rate for NWA scares me a bit.

3.2% is pretty low.

Yeah it does hurt in some ways to have such a low unemployment.  Especially since it's been that way for at least a decade.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 13 2005, 12:32 PM, said:

Yeah it does hurt in some ways to have such a low unemployment.  Especially since it's been that way for at least a decade.

I think that's why a lot of big companies and such are not very reluctant to coming here.

[Mith242]

I guess that's yet another reson I want us to develop a more diversified job market easpcially developing more tech jobs and keeping more of our graduates from the university here in our area.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 13 2005, 12:41 PM, said:

I guess that's yet another reson I want us to develop a more diversified job market easpcially developing more tech jobs and keeping more of our graduates from the university here in our area.

Does the UofA have a good tech program?

I think we could do better in the fields of Medical Sciences, Engineering, Tech, Bio-tech, and IT.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 13 2005, 12:52 PM, said:

Does the UofA have a good tech program?

I think we could do better in the fields of Medical Sciences, Engineering, Tech, Bio-tech, and IT.

I'm not sure how good it is and I'm sure we could do better, but still there are quite a few people that have to leave to find jobs in their fields.  I've had quite a few friends who majored in computer science and had to go to Dallas because there simply weren't jobs for them here or in the state.  Obviously not everyone is going to stay no matter what but I do think we should develop a more diversified job market so that some of our graduates can stay in the area.

[Aporkalypse]

mcheiss, on Nov 13 2005, 12:52 PM, said:

Does the UofA have a good tech program?

I think we could do better in the fields of Medical Sciences, Engineering, Tech, Bio-tech, and IT.

The Biomedical Sciences are mostly in Little Rock and are decent for a state this size.

UA has a solid but not exceptional engineering school.  It is a little better at UALR and UCA, largely because of Acxiom and Alltel.

I agree with you, it's tough to bring in new industry with such a low employment rate in an area with a small population.  The number of available qualified professionals for a new company to hire is quite low.  Still, there's a trickle of small businesses moving into NWA, expecially Benton Co.  Car-Mart could prove to be a successful company.

[mcheiss]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 14 2005, 10:55 AM, said:

The Biomedical Sciences are mostly in Little Rock and are decent for a state this size.

UA has a solid but not exceptional engineering school.  It is a little better at UALR and UCA, largely because of Acxiom and Alltel.

I agree with you, it's tough to bring in new industry with such a low employment rate in an area with a small population.  The number of available qualified professionals for a new company to hire is quite low.  Still, there's a trickle of small businesses moving into NWA, expecially Benton Co.  Car-Mart could prove to be a successful company.

You mean unemployment rate, right Aporkalypse .

Business seems to be our main focus up here. I think UofA's 2020 plan involved upgrading some current programs, but I'm not sure which ones.