86 replies to this topic

[KJW]

There are going to be five (count 'em, FIVE)  stoplights between the Jane/Noel Missouri turnoff and Bella Vista in Missouri...that's five times as many stoplights as Bentonville itself had not much more than two decades ago.  I drove by the site of the new hospital and it's going to be significant, and they're building a stoplight at the entrance to it, which will mean people coming off the interstate from Winnipeg/Omaha/KC/Joplin will encounter:

1.  A stoplight (with a warning light ahead of it) at the Jane/Noel turnoff (forget the routhe name).
2.  A light at Larry Neff Dr. (the new Freeman Hospital)
3.  A light at Commercial Dr. (Wal-Mart/McDonald's/Gordon Hollow Rd.)
4.  A light at Route 00 (Macadoodles/Forest Hills Dr. in Bella Vista)
5.  A light at Bear Hollow Rd. (State line/Wal-Mart computer center)

MAN, that decision by Arkansas to footdrag on their portion of the BV bypass (causing Missouri to divert funds from the same project, postponing their side of it) is looming larger and larger, IMO...

[KJW]

McDonald County may be getting a branch of Crowder (2 year) College of Neosho.  Maybe a second high school, too.

(Both pieces of land purchased are at U.S. 71 and Route 90 (the Jane/Noel turnoff), which is the "first" of the five McDonald stoplights before Bella Vista I spoke of above.)

[PinkTiger]

McDonald County land prices are inflated beyond reality. Most of the land won't appraise for what people want. For example, this fellow in Jane wants $2.6 Million for his farmland, mostly scrub, some pasture, with only rural water to the road and no sewer. What is he thinking? No developer will buy this land Most of it is unusable for building a large-scale development, and the utilities are years away, if ever.

But I have another concern: I understand that Freeman may not build this facility. They have posted a for sale sign on the land they were preparing for the Medical Center. Does anyone have information on this?

[KJW]

PinkTiger, on May 28 2008, 06:17 PM, said:

McDonald County land prices are inflated beyond reality. Most of the land won't appraise for what people want. For example, this fellow in Jane wants $2.6 Million for his farmland, mostly scrub, some pasture, with only rural water to the road and no sewer. What is he thinking? No developer will buy this land Most of it is unusable for building a large-scale development, and the utilities are years away, if ever.

But I have another concern: I understand that Freeman may not build this facility. They have posted a for sale sign on the land they were preparing for the Medical Center. Does anyone have information on this?

Good news on the second paragraph, PinkTiger.

Freeman Hospital now has a large two sided sign advertising that their hospital at the intersection of Larry Neff and 71 will indeed be built.  The Freeman sign is on the southeast side of the junction - the "For sale" sign is on the northeast side of the junction.

Edited by KJW, 02 August 2008 - 05:42 PM.

[KJW]

I've chronicled here the parade of diverse folks I see at the Jane, MO Walmart.

Here's probably the most unusual groups I've seen, who appear to be fellow residents, and I'll be cautious how I say it.

The last couple of visits there (in the span of weeks) I've seen multiple customers who appear to be of northeast African descent.  Not Arab, nor even (southern) Sudanese, but more like Ethiopian/Eritrean/Somali...living in Atlanta I met more than one individual from that region and they are distinctive looking and distinguished.  The women who are with them wear long chador headdresses, though I've also seen these women shopping and leaving by themselves.  One man by himself was wearing what some used to call a "Kente" hat but I'm not sure that's the right word - he was circling the bath area talking in his native language on a cell phone.  Even with the diversity in the area I thought maybe they were U.S. 71 travelers the first time I saw them but given I've seen this ethnic group on multiple visits and apparently shopping separately they look to be our new neighbors.  I had heard that Somalis elsewhere were becoming workers at chicken processing plants and there are large such operations at Noel and Southwest City in "Mac County"...that may be why they've moved here.

Some, in this day of heightened awareness of terror, might be uneasy.  I am thinking these customers were here for American and its opportunity, and quite probably that of NW Arkansas.  I only wish the true story of the changes of this area would be told by more people - our area really is an incredible story of this decade.

Edited by KJW, 19 April 2009 - 09:18 PM.

[KJW]

Taco Bell will be opening up near the Jane, MO Boonslick Motel within 2 weeks, I'm told.  Now "County" will have a McD's, a Bell and a Subway within a mile of each other on the southern border with Bella Vista.

[Mith242]

Something I saw a little while back.  A few years ago there was someone trying to build a NASCAR quality racetrack in McDonald County.  Apparently that's fallen through.  Apparently there was a problem with a local landowner.  Although this is outside our metro.  Apparently the same guy is now trying to build it just north of the Arkansas state line further east.  It would be south of the Branson airport.