539 replies to this topic

[mzweig]

I am curious about some of the planned developments along College Avenue north of Lafayette and I am anxious to swap information with anyone who knows anything about some of these sites.  The gas station on the corner of Lafayette and College was supposed to be turned into retail/condos, but that project is now dead and the owners are trying to lease the station again for $3500 a month.  College Ave. Auto is vacant--what will go there?  The property next to that is being used as an impromtu car lot and now a place to dump gravel for this endless water line project we have been working on for a year.  On the other side of the street we have a nice project just North of Curry's--the old club Matrix--that will be a high end furniture store and office space when done.  Next to it is the fortune telling place--that has a sign on it now that says "Growth Group" so something is gonna happen there.  Across the street where Bababoodan's is there is supposed to be a large new neourban development with retail and restaurants below and condos above.  This will include the law office property behind it.  When will this start? Then on the same side of the road a block north of Prospect is a gas station that is in the process of being torn down and has been for more than a year.  There were supposed to be nine townhouse condos going in there and it's been totally inactive for a long time.  I would love to see all of these projects done!

[mcheiss]

I've got a ques.

What's the two story building on College North of the Interstate being built?

[mzweig]

mcheiss, on Aug 30 2006, 10:58 AM, said:

I've got a ques.

What's the two story building on College North of the Interstate being built?

Are you talking about the little upscale mall that includes GOLF USA and Starbucks?  If so, there's been a lot of coverage on that project elsewhere in our forum. Can't tell you exactly where but I have seen it!  A nice project that will enhance our area.

[mcheiss]

mzweig, on Aug 30 2006, 11:01 AM, said:

Are you talking about the little upscale mall that includes GOLF USA and Starbucks?  If so, there's been a lot of coverage on that project elsewhere in our forum. Can't tell you exactly where but I have seen it!  A nice project that will enhance our area.

No, it's not Nelson's Crossing. Plus it's not that far north. It's just north of the general downtown area, (probably 3/4 a mile North of Dixon Street). It's just down the hill there as well.

[jdevers]

mcheiss, on Aug 30 2006, 11:05 AM, said:

No, it's not Nelson's Crossing. Plus it's not that far north. It's just north of the general downtown area, (probably 3/4 a mile North of Dixon Street). It's just down the hill there as well.

Wait, is it north of 540/Fulbright or 3/4 mile from Dixon?  3/4 mile north of Dickson on the east side of College is about where Club Matrix is being renovated, is that it?

[mzweig]

mcheiss, on Aug 30 2006, 11:05 AM, said:

No, it's not Nelson's Crossing. Plus it's not that far north. It's just north of the general downtown area, (probably 3/4 a mile North of Dixon Street). It's just down the hill there as well.

You mean over near the old Long John Silver's.    I dunno what that is.

[mcheiss]

jdevers, on Aug 30 2006, 11:30 AM, said:

3/4 mile north of Dickson on the east side of College is about where Club Matrix is being renovated, is that it?

It's in a two story building, on the west side going North on College. May'be I should just drive over there and see what it is.

[Aporkalypse]

Great idea for a thread.  Mith and I have both discussed in threads at times that College is the best redevelopment opportunity in NWA right now and with Dickson values sky high maybe we'll see some spillover.  There's too much 1950s-70s development that needs to be torn down.  I really like the Parkway idea, that would be a great way to jumpstart things.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Aug 30 2006, 10:58 AM, said:

I've got a ques.

What's the two story building on College North of the Interstate being built?

Yeah I'm still trying to figure that out as well.  If I had to guess just some small retail/office building.

mzweig, on Aug 30 2006, 11:35 AM, said:

You mean over near the old Long John Silver's.    I dunno what that is.

In case someone missed it, there's rumors that the Long John Silver's will become a Starbucks.  Looks like it;s going to be some sort of coffeeshop and so far none of the locals are claiming it.

mcheiss, on Aug 30 2006, 11:05 AM, said:

No, it's not Nelson's Crossing. Plus it's not that far north. It's just north of the general downtown area, (probably 3/4 a mile North of Dixon Street). It's just down the hill there as well.

Oh wait a sec, I think you're referring to something further south than what I thought.  Is this where Noodle's used to be?  They're rebuilding that little retail center.  I think there will be some offices there and also that gym.  I think it's Gold's Gym.

Aporkalypse, on Aug 30 2006, 02:01 PM, said:

Great idea for a thread.  Mith and I have both discussed in threads at times that College is the best redevelopment opportunity in NWA right now and with Dickson values sky high maybe we'll see some spillover.  There's too much 1950s-70s development that needs to be torn down.  I really like the Parkway idea, that would be a great way to jumpstart things.

I agree, wish I thought to go ahead and start something like this already.  

[Mith242]

mzweig, on Aug 30 2006, 10:56 AM, said:

I am curious about some of the planned developments along College Avenue north of Lafayette and I am anxious to swap information with anyone who knows anything about some of these sites.  The gas station on the corner of Lafayette and College was supposed to be turned into retail/condos, but that project is now dead and the owners are trying to lease the station again for $3500 a month.  College Ave. Auto is vacant--what will go there?  The property next to that is being used as an impromtu car lot and now a place to dump gravel for this endless water line project we have been working on for a year.  On the other side of the street we have a nice project just North of Curry's--the old club Matrix--that will be a high end furniture store and office space when done.  Next to it is the fortune telling place--that has a sign on it now that says "Growth Group" so something is gonna happen there.  Across the street where Bababoodan's is there is supposed to be a large new neourban development with retail and restaurants below and condos above.  This will include the law office property behind it.  When will this start? Then on the same side of the road a block north of Prospect is a gas station that is in the process of being torn down and has been for more than a year.  There were supposed to be nine townhouse condos going in there and it's been totally inactive for a long time.  I would love to see all of these projects done!

Sounds like you've heard more than I have.  I was wondering what was going to go in the old club.  I could tell that someone was doing something with it but never had heard anything.  I guess a furniture store might sound that interesting to most people.  But I've still been a bit surprised the lack of choices in Fayetteville.  When I bought my furniture a few years ago I basically had to go to Springdale because there wasn't a lot of choices in Fayetteville.  Nice to see some condos could still go into College even if it isn't at the area I thought they would.  I still think the area of College near Dickson and Lafayette is ripe for redevelopment.  Not to say others aren't, but you've got Dickson which everyone knows has so much going on there.  Then over on Lafeyette you've got some really nice neighborhoods and historical districts.  I'm still disappointed that the Timberstone Condo development fell through.  I think it might be hard at first because that intersection still has a lot to be desired.  But if someone could clear out some of those other buildings and businesses I think that could become a very desirable area.  I think it would be a nice link connecting the Washington-Willow Historical District over to the intersection of Lafeyette and College, then southwards down to the intersection of Dickson and College.

[jim9251]

I hate driving down College Avenue and School St. It's bumpy, ugly and seems out of place in the new revised Fayetteville. I would love for the city to turn that into a landscaped Boulevard, with a concrete divider instead of the suicide lane. Mercury vapor traffic lights in the center divider so you can actually see where you're going, and bury all the utility lines. It has the potential of being very beautiful...with a pricetag of several billion dollars, and a decade of construction but still the thought is nice. I would be happy if they just repaved the thing.

[Mith242]

jim9251, on Aug 30 2006, 04:17 PM, said:

I hate driving down College Avenue and School St. It's bumpy, ugly and seems out of place in the new revised Fayetteville. I would love for the city to turn that into a landscaped Boulevard, with a concrete divider instead of the suicide lane. Mercury vapor traffic lights in the center divider so you can actually see where you're going, and bury all the utility lines. It has the potential of being very beautiful...with a pricetag of several billion dollars, and a decade of construction but still the thought is nice. I would be happy if they just repaved the thing.

I also agree about trying to do something like that.  While many areas of College would be nice, to me that area seems to really be asking for that type of focus.  I think we all know we can't redevelop the whole stretch of College at once.  Maybe we could also mention what areas of College we'd like to see get focused on first.

[mzweig]

Mith242, on Aug 30 2006, 04:20 PM, said:

I also agree about trying to do something like that.  While many areas of College would be nice, to me that area seems to really be asking for that type of focus.  I think we all know we can't redevelop the whole stretch of College at once.  Maybe we could also mention what areas of College we'd like to see get focused on first.

That would be so cool!  A real entrance to our city.  I would like to see everything from the Courthouse to North Street done first.  I think that's where it's the worst and it would really give our city a sense of place.

[acx_guy]

Lacuna, the furniture store currently located near the Joyce/265 intersection, is going into the old Doc Murdoc's building.

[Mith242]

mzweig, on Aug 30 2006, 08:11 PM, said:

That would be so cool!  A real entrance to our city.  I would like to see everything from the Courthouse to North Street done first.  I think that's where it's the worst and it would really give our city a sense of place.

Yeah I think that would be a nice place to start.  I wish some sort od development would go in around the College and Dickson intersection to help get the area going.  It would be nice if some of the Dickson developments could spread over to College.

acx_guy, on Aug 30 2006, 10:02 PM, said:

Lacuna, the furniture store currently located near the Joyce/265 intersection, is going into the old Doc Murdoc's building.

Yeah I remember that now.  I was over there a few weeks ago and wondered what it was.  I don't get over to that area a lot and hadn't been over there in a while.

[Hoggy Bear]

acx_guy, on Aug 30 2006, 10:02 PM, said:

Lacuna, the furniture store currently located near the Joyce/265 intersection, is going into the old Doc Murdoc's building.

Yep, and I heard that the old Lacuna building at Joyce/265 will be the new location for a golf store.  Good location across from Paradise Golf Course.

[Mith242]

Hoggy Bear, on Sep 1 2006, 05:21 PM, said:

Yep, and I heard that the old Lacuna building at Joyce/265 will be the new location for a golf store.  Good location across from Paradise Golf Course.

Any ideas if this is a new golf store or is one moving to this location?

[Hoggy Bear]

Mith242, on Sep 1 2006, 05:50 PM, said:

Any ideas if this is a new golf store or is one moving to this location?

It's a new golf store.  Privately owned....not a chain.  But they will stock more golf equipment than what they have at the Paradise shop.

[Mith242]

Anyway back to the topic on hand.  I was wonderig if anyone else had ever seen Dover-Kohl's suggestion on College and what everyone thought of it.  basically you had three lanes in the center for the 'faster' traffic.  Then you had two tree lined medians on the sides with another lane for 'slower' traffic.  This made the sidewalks and such along the edges of the road more pedestrian friendly because you only had one lane near you and it didn't have traffic going along at 40mph.  Something like this would take up more room.  One thing I noticed I believe they also along with those side lanes also had parking along there as well.  I think this would cut into any parking in front of any shops or business along College.  Instead of having a parking lot in front you'd just have some non-parallel parking along the outer lanes.  This also puts the buildings more up front along the street.  I noticed Dover-Kohl doesn't like buildings sitting back away from the street.  Anyway just curious what you guys thought of something like this.  I don't know if anything like this would ever be done.  Sounds like it would be a rather labor and money intensive project.

[mzweig]

Mith242, on Sep 1 2006, 07:26 PM, said:

Anyway back to the topic on hand.  I was wonderig if anyone else had ever seen Dover-Kohl's suggestion on College and what everyone thought of it.  basically you had three lanes in the center for the 'faster' traffic.  Then you had two tree lined medians on the sides with another lane for 'slower' traffic.  This made the sidewalks and such along the edges of the road more pedestrian friendly because you only had one lane near you and it didn't have traffic going along at 40mph.  Something like this would take up more room.  One thing I noticed I believe they also along with those side lanes also had parking along there as well.  I think this would cut into any parking in front of any shops or business along College.  Instead of having a parking lot in front you'd just have some non-parallel parking along the outer lanes.  This also puts the buildings more up front along the street.  I noticed Dover-Kohl doesn't like buildings sitting back away from the street.  Anyway just curious what you guys thought of something like this.  I don't know if anything like this would ever be done.  Sounds like it would be a rather labor and money intensive project.

I think it would be great, Mith.  But I don't know that we need the three fast lanes in the middle.  Having two lanes with a median strip and a 25 mph limit wouldn't take any more room and encourage traffic to go elswhere.  That's what I would really like to see.  This is the way College used to look.