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Fayetteville, Arkansas


Mith242

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I believe the lot fronting Dickson between Block and Church is all one piece of property now- Barber got the alley between the streets vacated and made it one large lot. He also bought a smaller lot that only fronts Church for the deck after complaints about the height of Divinity, but I don't think it became an offcial part of the other land. This more of the information that is in the public domain but you have to go get it - I guess at the City Clerk's office.

I'd still like to see a limited service hotel built there. With the problems the Cosmopolitan is having and the Ren Tower not being built yet the downtown area seems a perfect place to put a Aloft or even a Doubletree Club in there.

I like the idea of a budget business hotel around there, though I'd prefer something independent. Something that's not a clone of all the 540 hotels would be best.

Edited by aerotive
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I like the idea of a budget business hotel around there, though I'd prefer something independent. Something that's not a clone of all the 540 hotels would be best.

I agree with the sentiment, but I think a chain like Aloft would be fine as long as they abide by the downtown design standards and make it something that fits in. I don't want to see some trendy, stucco behemoth on that lot, but with the proper design, the brand wouldn't matter as much to me.

An Aloft would actually be ideal, IMO, although I'm not really a fan of the brand myself. Its got a little cache with the W brand, but its still affordable so that it would stay booked. Alot likes to put a nice bar or even nightclub (like in Dallas) in their properties, so it would fit seamlessly with what is going on downtown.

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Hmmm...I did a search on that LLC but didn't come up with anything. My searching just kept pulling up churches on Dickson St. I'm wondering about the Church part of the LLC. Does it have to do with Church Ave? Seems rather ironic that there's that big lot there on the corner of Dickson and Church. Then there's an LLC that comes along with that name. Although I suppose the Church could also be the last name of a developer or someone with the financing. But it would seem that whoever bought the lot on Dickson and Church also bought this property. Now like everyone else, I just have to wonder if it's for investment or if they actually have plans for these properties.

I did a search on the Arkansas Sec. of State website for corporations with that name.... It was apparently created by a lawyer in Little Rock named Gary F. Liles.

Also, I should have mentioned -- according to the Wash. Co. Website, the transaction was for a total of 5 adjacent parcels, all on that corner.

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I agree with the sentiment, but I think a chain like Aloft would be fine as long as they abide by the downtown design standards and make it something that fits in. I don't want to see some trendy, stucco behemoth on that lot, but with the proper design, the brand wouldn't matter as much to me.

An Aloft would actually be ideal, IMO, although I'm not really a fan of the brand myself. Its got a little cache with the W brand, but its still affordable so that it would stay booked. Alot likes to put a nice bar or even nightclub (like in Dallas) in their properties, so it would fit seamlessly with what is going on downtown.

I would love to see an Aloft hotel come into Fayetteville, however based on the struggles we've seen lately with hotels downtown (the Cosmopolitan, the old Mountain Inn project that's now a parking lot) I'm thinking it would be a tough sell for investors.

I could see a professional office building there, tho. Maybe retail/restaurant on the ground floor, with 2 or 3 floors of professional office space above it? Being located between the U of A, the courthouse, and city hall, I would think there would be a fair amount of business that cater to these entities that would love to be tennants.

Just a thought.

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I would love to see an Aloft hotel come into Fayetteville, however based on the struggles we've seen lately with hotels downtown (the Cosmopolitan, the old Mountain Inn project that's now a parking lot) I'm thinking it would be a tough sell for investors.

I could see a professional office building there, tho. Maybe retail/restaurant on the ground floor, with 2 or 3 floors of professional office space above it? Being located between the U of A, the courthouse, and city hall, I would think there would be a fair amount of business that cater to these entities that would love to be tennants.

Just a thought.

Thats a good point. But I think the Cosmo struggles because its not a very nice hotel. There aren't any good places to stay in Fayetteville. Springdale has a more sophisticated hotel market and thats sad.

As for office space, there is a lot of unused downtown office space already. EJ Ball being a great example right up the street.

The demand seems to be high for quality residential rentals in the downtown area. Maybe a mixed use with retail or restaurant below and some small, but pricey rental units up top.

Or a Waffle House.... :)

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I did a search on the Arkansas Sec. of State website for corporations with that name.... It was apparently created by a lawyer in Little Rock named Gary F. Liles.

Also, I should have mentioned -- according to the Wash. Co. Website, the transaction was for a total of 5 adjacent parcels, all on that corner.

Thanks for the update.

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I would love to see an Aloft hotel come into Fayetteville, however based on the struggles we've seen lately with hotels downtown (the Cosmopolitan, the old Mountain Inn project that's now a parking lot) I'm thinking it would be a tough sell for investors.

I could see a professional office building there, tho. Maybe retail/restaurant on the ground floor, with 2 or 3 floors of professional office space above it? Being located between the U of A, the courthouse, and city hall, I would think there would be a fair amount of business that cater to these entities that would love to be tenants.

Just a thought.

I think problem is more to do with financing. I think downtown Fayetteville can support a nice hotel. If we can just get a developer or investor that can provide the financing. Now I have no problem with an office building in that location either. But I really would like to see a nice hotel put up on or near Dickson St at some point. It's arguably the top entertainment district in the state. Yet there's no hotel that's very close to it.

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I could see an Aloft fitting in with the Dickson street environment very well (for the near future, at least). If the project were built out a bit larger, I could see a mixed use building (think River Market Tower in downtown Little Rock) being a nice fit there. Of course, I doubt it'd be allowed due to size demands for a project like that, but a commercial/restaurant first floor with a four-5 story hotel above and then some kind of office or condo/loft floors above that would be a really neat project, and would add hotel space on Dickson. I think the mixed-use hotel buildings are a bit more interesting than the stand-alone hotels because they tend not to look as corporate or generic as the cookie-cutter hotels the chains build. On that note though, I've been very impressed with some of the projects in the River Market area in Little Rock. Moses Tucker has been doing some interesting things.

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I could see an Aloft fitting in with the Dickson street environment very well (for the near future, at least). If the project were built out a bit larger, I could see a mixed use building (think River Market Tower in downtown Little Rock) being a nice fit there. Of course, I doubt it'd be allowed due to size demands for a project like that, but a commercial/restaurant first floor with a four-5 story hotel above and then some kind of office or condo/loft floors above that would be a really neat project, and would add hotel space on Dickson. I think the mixed-use hotel buildings are a bit more interesting than the stand-alone hotels because they tend not to look as corporate or generic as the cookie-cutter hotels the chains build. On that note though, I've been very impressed with some of the projects in the River Market area in Little Rock. Moses Tucker has been doing some interesting things.

Yeah I've got to agree with you. Overall I'm a big fan of mixed-use and I like what you mentioned. I'm really hoping they'll do something along those lines or a mixed-use office building. I'd hope they wouldn't just do some sort of strip mall type idea. Although I suppose that might be better than it's current form. But you aren't going to get parcels of land like that along Dickson St too often. It would just be nice to see that spot used to it's full potential. Of course assuming the guys who bought it will do something with it and aren't just going to sit on it for investment purposes.

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I just noticed something I found interesting. I just came across a map that shows different neighborhoods and districts of Fayetteville in different colors. Quite a few I've never heard before. The Mt Sequoyah area is divided into three districts/neighborhoods. Not sure if these are neighborhood associations or how all of these have been determined. At first I thought maybe it was school district boundaries. But there's too many areas that are left out. One historical district is there, Washington-Willow. But there other two aren't. The Wilson Park/Rockhouse Historical District isn't there at all, although the area east of Wilson Park is listed as the City Park district/neighborhood. While the Mt Nord Historical District seems to have been incorporated into the Lafayette district/neighborhood. Anyway, not a huge deal. But I found it interesting.

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Yeah I've got to agree with you. Overall I'm a big fan of mixed-use and I like what you mentioned. I'm really hoping they'll do something along those lines or a mixed-use office building. I'd hope they wouldn't just do some sort of strip mall type idea. Although I suppose that might be better than it's current form. But you aren't going to get parcels of land like that along Dickson St too often. It would just be nice to see that spot used to it's full potential. Of course assuming the guys who bought it will do something with it and aren't just going to sit on it for investment purposes.

They paid too much for the land to do a simple strip mall development. It wouldn't make a return. It will have to be a vertical development of some sort. My hope is mixed use with retail on the bottom, and office, residential or hotel on the upper floors. Of course, there is a glut of vacant office and residential on Dickson currently, so a hotel would be the most needed use. A dream project would also have banquet and conference rooms and on site underground parking.

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They paid too much for the land to do a simple strip mall development. It wouldn't make a return. It will have to be a vertical development of some sort. My hope is mixed use with retail on the bottom, and office, residential or hotel on the upper floors. Of course, there is a glut of vacant office and residential on Dickson currently, so a hotel would be the most needed use. A dream project would also have banquet and conference rooms and on site underground parking.

Agree completely. We need more banquet/conference space in Fayetteville. Right now all the good conference space is located in Rogers (what is here in Fayetteville is either very small, very run down, or is University-owned and not usable for most commercial purposes), and I can see a nice hotel with conference/event space on Dickson doing well.

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Agree completely. We need more banquet/conference space in Fayetteville. Right now all the good conference space is located in Rogers (what is here in Fayetteville is either very small, very run down, or is University-owned and not usable for most commercial purposes), and I can see a nice hotel with conference/event space on Dickson doing well.

For that matter any event that is in Fayetteville and becomes successful ends up having to move to Rogers the next year because there isn't enough room here. I can't recall specific events, but I'm pretty sure I heard three mentioned just the past 3-4 months that ended up moving to Rogers because they had become popular and had outgrown any convention space here in Fayetteville.

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This has been mentioned a little while back. But I came across an article that had some details and a rendering of the Park Centre development near Lake Fayetteville. I thought others might find it interesting.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=121633.54928.133771&cID=j

In the restaurant topic news of Hjem was mentioned. But something that wasn't is that the same people are also planning on opening a retail shop in the East Square Plaza Bldg (former BoA) as well. Nordic Moods would feature Scandinavian brands of outdoor wear and accessories. To fit in with their Scandinavian influenced restaurant as well.

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This has been mentioned a little while back. But I came across an article that had some details and a rendering of the Park Centre development near Lake Fayetteville. I thought others might find it interesting.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=121633.54928.133771&cID=j

Cool! I've been wondering what it would look like. It's good to see that they see good things in Fayetteville's future.

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Cool! I've been wondering what it would look like. It's good to see that they see good things in Fayetteville's future.

Yeah always nice to see a rendering. A lot of times you hear about a project but never get to see a rendering. I've been wondering if we need that much office space right now. But overall I think a lot of the surplus office space for our metro tends to be in Benton County. I'm not saying Fayetteville really needs it, but I don't think there is as much of a glut here as other parts of the metro area.

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Yeah always nice to see a rendering. A lot of times you hear about a project but never get to see a rendering. I've been wondering if we need that much office space right now. But overall I think a lot of the surplus office space for our metro tends to be in Benton County. I'm not saying Fayetteville really needs it, but I don't think there is as much of a glut here as other parts of the metro area.

With the Commerce Park building, One Steele Plaza building, EJ Ball building, and all the other little office buildings around town with "for lease" or "for sale" signs on them, I seriously doubt we need any new high-class office space in Fayetteville for the next few years. The previously mentioned buildings were largely or completely empty the last time I'd been to them and none of them are small amounts of office space by themselves. I like seeing new developments like this, but I like seeing our existing new developments being used even more.

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Looks like the Fayetteville Trail System is attracting bicycle shops. I saw signs near the Mud Creek Trail on Front St to what I think was advertising a new bicycle shop called the The Bicycle Route (or was it The New Bicycle Route?). I'm not positive on this, though. I didn't actually go check it out. When I first saw the sign I was wondering what new trail? But with the direction it was pointing I figured it must be some sort of bicycle themed shop. Either way looks like another shop is opening near the Mud Creek Trail as well. Across from Noodles will be Trek Bicycle Store. It's owned by the same people who operate a bicycle shop up in Bentonville.

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That bike shop near Noodles is being opened by one of my former students, Chris Brosh, son of Patrick who owns the Romance Diamond Company on Dickson. You are correct--this will be his second store. Chris is a good entrepreneur and will be successful!

Mark

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While paid parking on Dickson seems like it's pretty much a done deal. It's not the same for the downtown area. Sounds like there's been a lot of public outcry over the idea. So I get the feeling the city might change some of the details or perhaps even totally scrap the idea. Personally I don't have a problem with it. But I also wouldn't want to hurt or run off downtown businesses. Dickson St I don't think will be affected too much.

It sounds like paid parking in the Dickson Street area may not be the sure thing that it seemed. The mayor's ofice has evidently been doing some backroom dealing with the Walton Arts Center that is just now coming to light. Without any discussion at the public meetings the city administration wants to give the WAC over a quarter of a million dollars per year of the parking revenue. This is without any assurance that the WAC will build it's expansion in Fayetteville. A person could pay to park without ever visting the WAC and the money would go to the organization anyway.

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Hmm...I would support such an arrangement if the expansion is guaranteed to be in Fayetteville. Since the WAC has already telegraphed that the expansion won't be in Fayetteville, this comes across as a money grab.

Also, it's bad pr to be talking about giving 250 grand a year to an org. that's see by some (many?) as elitist, while doing penny-ante things like turning off trail lights.

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Hmm...I would support such an arrangement if the expansion is guaranteed to be in Fayetteville. Since the WAC has already telegraphed that the expansion won't be in Fayetteville, this comes across as a money grab.

Also, it's bad pr to be talking about giving 250 grand a year to an org. that's see by some (many?) as elitist, while doing penny-ante things like turning off trail lights.

Yes, a tradeoff of some paid parking cash for a committment to build the WAC expansion in Fayetteville would be a good idea. Ideally all parking revenue would go for parking improvements but using a portion of it to keep NWA's premier performing arts center in Fayetteville would benefit the city as a whole. There is more to keeping the WAC's main facilty in town than just the entertainment aspect- it is an economic draw and important to Fayetteville's image in attracting business and jobs. The loss of the main facility would be a blow to the city that would be permanent - once it is gone it will not be back.

I've wondered why the WAC seemed so thrilled about the paid parking plan when there wasn't anymore talk publicy about them receiving money from it. Now we know- the city administration was keeping it quiet so they could gain support for the plan. They knew if they were upfront that there would be more opposition to it. I think it was dishonest and those responsible should not be in city government - they have lost all credibilty as public officials.

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Yeah I certainly think that Fayetteville should use the whole parking issue for some leverage against the WAC. And if the WAC decides to build elsewhere the city shouldn't allow the WAC control over that parking area. It may seem 'wrong' to hand over that amount of money to an organization like the WAC. But I think it's worth it if it means Fayetteville keeps the main facility. On the other note I've been a little surprise to hear so much outcry about turning the lights off during that time period on the trail system. I know it does inconvenience some, but I guess I wouldn't think just that many people actually use the trail during those time periods. Is it right to force all city workers and employees to take another day off just to keep the lights on? That seems a bit extreme to me. I'm a big fan of the trail system. Perhaps I'm biased because I know I don't use the trails during that time period. But it seems like a reasonable concession to me.

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Yeah I certainly think that Fayetteville should use the whole parking issue for some leverage against the WAC. And if the WAC decides to build elsewhere the city shouldn't allow the WAC control over that parking area. It may seem 'wrong' to hand over that amount of money to an organization like the WAC. But I think it's worth it if it means Fayetteville keeps the main facility. On the other note I've been a little surprise to hear so much outcry about turning the lights off during that time period on the trail system. I know it does inconvenience some, but I guess I wouldn't think just that many people actually use the trail during those time periods. Is it right to force all city workers and employees to take another day off just to keep the lights on? That seems a bit extreme to me. I'm a big fan of the trail system. Perhaps I'm biased because I know I don't use the trails during that time period. But it seems like a reasonable concession to me.

I would go a step further and say that if the WAC decides to build elsewhere the city shouldn't allow them control over the parking area or the facilities. If the WAC builds the expansion away from Fayetteville the city should find another group to operate the Fayetteville Performing Arts Center or operate it in conjunction with the University of Arkansas. Dickson Street and Fayetteville are two very attractive names in the entertainment scene of NWA and a center independent of the WAC will be successful. The WAC would be welcome to use the facilty at a fee equal to that charged other groups wanting to use it.

Edited by zman9810
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Well, this surprises no one, but I had a conversation with someone "in the know" so to speak about WAC's plans, and the tone was not very encouraging for the potential of the future facility being in Fayetteville. I would have loved to pick their brain a bit more about it, but there wasn't time. I really think that more than just the current WAC patrons need to start being more outspoken about why they want the main facility to remain in Fayetteville. Send letters, emails, write letters to the editor, etc. It may be a long shot, but at least they'll know how much it means to us as a community. (It would be particularly helpful if some of those Rogers/Bentonville folks that like having the WAC on Dickson street would speak up too...)

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