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Fayetteville, Arkansas


Mith242

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Yeah, I saw that. Wonder what their idea is? Unless they own land behind the church that could be used for a deck I don't kow what it could be.

I was curious as well. So I took a look on Google Earth. They do have parking directly behind the church that's directly next to the current parking area for the courthouse. It's not a huge space but could certainly help.

courthouseparkingyo8.jpg

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I mentioned this a bit yesterday in the more political topic in the coffeehouse subforum. But we appear to have a standoff Between Mayor Dan Coody and the City Council. But quite a bit of the City Council refuses to address Coody's budget till he balances so that it doesn't dip into the city's reserve funds. But Coody doesn't appear to be backing down either. I can't help but wonder if a lot of this is coming down to politics with there being an election this fall. Either way there won't be a serious problem till the beginning of next year. And of course before then there will be elections that could change the makeup of city officials before the end of the year.

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A little surprised no one has mentioned this yet. Although I can understand everyone not wanted to get too hyped up about another possible development. This was initially mentioned a while back ago. I hadn't heard anything in a long time so I just assumed it was dead. But apparently Signet Enterprises are still talking about putting a hotel and parking decks and some commercial space on Dickson St. The location that had been mentioned earlier is the existing WAC parking lot. I'm not sure if it has to be there or just a possible location. Granted there's still a lot to be done before anything happens, so it's hard to get too excited just yet. Apparently another step could be made in 6-8 weeks. People from Signet apparently were in Fayetteville during BBB and still liked what they saw. Of course I can imagine BBB getting a lot of developers and such excited. But anyway at least there's still some potential good news and activity that could be happening sometime in the near future.

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A little surprised no one has mentioned this yet. Although I can understand everyone not wanted to get too hyped up about another possible development. This was initially mentioned a while back ago. I hadn't heard anything in a long time so I just assumed it was dead. But apparently Signet Enterprises are still talking about putting a hotel and parking decks and some commercial space on Dickson St. The location that had been mentioned earlier is the existing WAC parking lot. I'm not sure if it has to be there or just a possible location. Granted there's still a lot to be done before anything happens, so it's hard to get too excited just yet. Apparently another step could be made in 6-8 weeks. People from Signet apparently were in Fayetteville during BBB and still liked what they saw. Of course I can imagine BBB getting a lot of developers and such excited. But anyway at least there's still some potential good news and activity that could be happening sometime in the near future.

I still have hope that the City of Fayetteville, Signet Enterprises and the Walton Arts Center are talking about a joint project that includes the expansion of the center and a parking deck. There hasn't been a final say about where the study will say the expansion should be and the present location on Dickson Street in the heart of NWA's entertainment district and cultural center is by far the best place for it.

Edited by zman9810
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I forgot to mention this yesterday. Another Swedish company could be moving offices here. This one is a biodiesel company called Ageratec and they are looking to possibly put their US Marketing headquarters here. A decision is expected to be made soon. If they do locate here they would apparently be the 5th Swedish 'green' company to locate here. Looks like the city's decision to recruit Swedish companies is really paying off.

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Now it sounds like there's talk of using eminent domain to condemn about 6 houses around College Ave and Spring St to make room for a possible parking deck. Hopefully it won't come to that but I guess it's a possibility.

I saw that.......kind of surprising. One would think that if the county was going to use eminent domain they would use it to acquire the St Paul's parking lot. It doesn't have any structures that would have to bought and demolished so should cost less to condemn. It is also a single plot of land and would make for a much easier litigation than six plots would if the case made it all the way to court. The fact that at least two of the structures probably have historic significance will make the effort to get them even harder if the owners aren't willing to take what the county offers.

NWA News.com article

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  • 2 weeks later...

The top part of the parking deck the Washington County Courthouse is now closed. Probably putting even more pressure to find some sort of solution soon to the parking issue. I knew the design to the current parking deck was bad but apparently even if it was renovated it would only prolong the life of that parking deck by about 5 years. So finding another location would be the best option. Even if it were a small parking deck you could demolish the current one and also build another one there.

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Looks like the Quorum Court has approved $6 Mil for a new parking deck at the current parking deck spot. Not sure what they'll do while the construction goes on. But I guess right now the current one isn't really getting much use since most of it's closed down. The new deck will be three or four levels with around 300 too 400 parking spots.

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Looks like the Quorum Court has approved $6 Mil for a new parking deck at the current parking deck spot. Not sure what they'll do while the construction goes on. But I guess right now the current one isn't really getting much use since most of it's closed down. The new deck will be three or four levels with around 300 too 400 parking spots.

Yeah, I saw that. The situation worked out for the overall good, I guess. Except maybe St Paul's - I read where they were possibly open to further discussion now about using their parking lot but the county will use the property they already have.

The plan for 4 levels with the option of adding office space on top sounds like a good long range plan. Doing that should cover the county's needs for many years to come.

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Forgot to mention yesterday Fayetteville won a new Arkansas award. Fayetteville won the first Arkansas Shine Award. Fayetteville won the over 50,000 category. In fact NWA picked up half the awards for all the different size categories. Lowell and Eureka Springs finished out the other part of the half of the Arkansas Shine Awards for NWA.

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Sales tax revenue continues to be up compared to last year. Good news since most of the area is down. Although Rogers had a very slight increase. It's probably mainly due to the fact of Sam's and the new Malco. Once we hit the one year anniversary for those we'll have to see how things go.

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Sales tax revenue continues to be up compared to last year. Good news since most of the area is down. Although Rogers had a very slight increase. It's probably mainly due to the fact of Sam's and the new Malco. Once we hit the one year anniversary for those we'll have to see how things go.

I think another factor in the sales tax increase is that the newness of the recent Benton County retail developments has worn off. The first year a lot of Fayetteville residents went north to check out the Promenade and Shoppes and now are sticking closer to home.

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I think another factor in the sales tax increase is that the newness of the recent Benton County retail developments has worn off. The first year a lot of Fayetteville residents went north to check out the Promenade and Shoppes and now are sticking closer to home.

Interesting point I hadn't considered.

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Well, it seems like Circuit City in Fayetteville will be closing. The good news is it isn't a local problem as they are closing 187 other stores as well. I hope something decent picks up the space there.

I'd heard about them closing a lot of stores but hadn't considered ours might be one of the ones. Thanks for the update.

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Looks like Fayetteville is getting a charter school. Haas Hall is relocating from Farmington. It's been trying to move to Fayetteville for a couple of years now. Guess the state board finally decided to allow the move. Haas Hall Academy is a college preparatory school focusing on math and science. Apparently as a part of the decision they'll also be adding an 8th grade as well and will be located on College Ave. There's also been efforts to start a new charter school but the state board turned it down.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I noticed that the old Soap and Suds building on Sycamore was being demolished yesterday when I drove by. The one that sits in front of the Skate Place Condos. Anybody have any idea what is going on there?

Afraid I haven't heard anything about it.

I hadn't ever gotten around to mentioning it, but the Lights of the Ozarks will be around for another year. Luckily some donations came along that will let them continue the tradition. Although it sounds like there won't be quite as many lights as last year. Although with some of the trees cut down on the Square earlier this year and replaced with small younger trees, it would be hard to have as many lights as last year anyway. They're also replacing some of the lights with LED. I believe I heard around a third of the lights will be LED.

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I hadn't ever gotten around to mentioning it, but the Lights of the Ozarks will be around for another year. Luckily some donations came along that will let them continue the tradition. Although it sounds like there won't be quite as many lights as last year. Although with some of the trees cut down on the Square earlier this year and replaced with small younger trees, it would be hard to have as many lights as last year anyway. They're also replacing some of the lights with LED. I believe I heard around a third of the lights will be LED.

The residents has better enjoy them this year- seems like there is a very real possiblity they won't be around next year. Same with a lot of the other city attractions that help give Fayetteville a higher quality of life.

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The residents has better enjoy them this year- seems like there is a very real possibility they won't be around next year. Same with a lot of the other city attractions that help give Fayetteville a higher quality of life.

Yeah I do worry this could be the last year. But I'm hoping that maybe the same people and companies that helped out this year could help out next year as well. I suppose it might also come down to how the economy is looking around this time next year.

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The residents has better enjoy them this year- seems like there is a very real possiblity they won't be around next year. Same with a lot of the other city attractions that help give Fayetteville a higher quality of life.

Well, I had heard that too but they have been buying alot of LED lights. These lights cost double to triple the cost of traditional mini bulbs. They do save electricity but you would only be saving money over many many years. So I do find it strange that they are buying so many LEDs only to use them for one year. It would be a big waste of money.

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Well, I had heard that too but they have been buying alot of LED lights. These lights cost double to triple the cost of traditional mini bulbs. They do save electricity but you would only be saving money over many many years. So I do find it strange that they are buying so many LEDs only to use them for one year. It would be a big waste of money.

Yes, that would be a needless waste of hard to come by cash, wouldn't it? I was actually alluding to the mayoral runoff without dragging politics into a development topic but in this election it's hard to separate the two.

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