Fayetteville, Arkansas

[wmr]

Ok, I found where the proposal discussed by the Ordinance Review Committee and meant to be presented at the Tuesday council meeting had 5 ft setbacks, not 15 ft. There would have been 10 ft setbacks at the 36 ft elevation or the height of an adjacent structure within the 5 ft setback. The ordinance was changed into what the city attorney wrote at just before the meeting- what time frame I'm not sure of. Those setback restrictions would have less impact on development.

 

If you have a lot that is 60 ft wide with setbacks of 15 ft on each side you will lose 30 ft total of usable space on that lot.

The ordinance review committee's proposal was presented as an amendment, but shotdown by the entire council, minus Sarah Marsh & Matt Petty.  That version would have made sense.  Why Mark Kinion and the other idiots supported the Kit Williams proposal is beyond me.  I think they are just too stupid to understand what they were voting for.

[JamesE]

The ordinance review committee's proposal was presented as an amendment, but shotdown by the entire council, minus Sarah Marsh & Matt Petty.  That version would have made sense.  Why Mark Kinion and the other idiots supported the Kit Williams proposal is beyond me.  I think they are just too stupid to understand what they were voting for.

 

A better option would have been to leave the existing zoning in place; Marsh & Petty's proposal strikes me a plan to eat a lite portion of turd, as opposed to the full, all-you-can eat buffet that passed. And it was her idea to eat turd in the first place.  I agree that they are too stupid to know what they were voting for; this mess exposes our entire city council for the incompetent political hacks they are.

[wmr]

A better option would have been to leave the existing zoning in place

 

They could have done that, too.  

[TRB]

James, if that was you that posted that summary at the Flyer, good job.

[wmr]

Just curious why this topic was pinned, along with all of the others?  For me, its easier to see when new items have been posted if a topic is free to fall and bump with each new post.

 

Doesn't make sense to pin a few random topics.  Just my buck o five.

[JamesE]

James, if that was you that posted that summary at the Flyer, good job.

 

Thanks TRB!  Yes, that was me.

[aerotive]

It looks nice - my wife & I sat outside at Arsaga's the other day and noticed how nice it looks from Dickson St.  I think they've replaced damaged brick as they went; there were several big pallets of brick in the parking lot when they started.  I'd like to see Hillcrest stay where it is, but add a liner building on one or both sides to tie it back into the streetscape.

 

Definitely looks better, hope they get to the south side of the building soon.

[twin_number2]

HuHot Grill is closing for good 12/12/13 Wednesday

[JamesE]

HuHot Grill is closing for good 12/12/13 Wednesday

 

Call me a history nerd, but I've never gotten the concept of a Mongol-themed grill that doesn't serve Mongolian food.

 

It seems as though a bunch of stir fry Asian places have come and gone from that location.

Edited December 10, 2013 by JamesE

[Mith242]

Call me a history nerd, but I've never gotten the concept of a Mongol-themed grill that doesn't serve Mongolian food.

 

It seems as though a bunch of stir fry Asian places have come and gone from that location.

To be honest most 'Asian' restaurants you see in the US don't serve food that you'd actually ever see in the actual Asian country.  

[TRB]

Call me a history nerd, but I've never gotten the concept of a Mongol-themed grill that doesn't serve Mongolian food.

 

It seems as though a bunch of stir fry Asian places have come and gone from that location.

I haven't noticed that, It was Shogun for the longest time till they built their fancy digs, I think one other Asian themed place was there before it was occupied by HuHot,  The other corner location at that shopping center where Slim Chickens is at was a Corky's till it moved to Dickson and them closed. It was then a Gateway store and then a sewing store before Slims moved back in. CiCi's has been there from the get go. Kobi has moved around a bit but it seems to have found it's place at the old Darden failed concept Smokey Bones.

 

Quite honestly there's lots of comp around there, Something like that would likely Found a niche on MLK or Wedington., need more non drive thru fare along MLK quite frankly

Edited December 11, 2013 by TRB

[JamesE]

Quite honestly there's lots of comp around there, Something like that would likely Found a niche on MLK or Wedington., need more non drive thru fare along MLK quite frankly

 

That's something something I don't get about restaurant development in Fayetteville; it seems uptown has too many  restaurants and the rest of town has too few.  These restaurants cannibalize each other's business and they aren't too convenient to people on the west, south, and east sides of town.  The only other place where there is a significant concentration of restaurants is on Dickson, which has issues of it's own.  Go south of Archibald Yell, and it's mostly tumbleweeds with the exception of Green House Grille and it's mostly fast food places east & west.  Having recently moved to the south side of town, I've also become accutely aware of the fact that there are no decent grocery stores around here either.  Hopefully Southgate will get redeveloped soon - that would seem to be a great location for a few good restaurants and a grocery store. 

[sasnakrafan]

Hate that HuHot's is gone- I do think that Genghis Grill had much better flavor. I just noticed this today, but it looks as if the Dixie Cafe's days were finally numbered as it is gone. Springrolls which was a Vietnamese Bistro right about Jason's Deli closed down also. It sad to see these places go because the empty establishments are just not pretty, but hopefully someone sees an opportunity and capitalizes off of it. 

[aerotive]

Maybe 20 years ago F'ville could have implemented these restrictions without loosing much business, but nowadays... not so much.

I was talking with a very successful individual that relocated here this year, and they have yet to travel to Fayetteville.

 

I doubt we could handle this very successful individual's success, so it's best that they stay away.  Far, far away.

[UrbanArkie]

I was simply using that experience as a comparison. 20 years ago I would come visit my family in Rogers/Bentonville and we would always go down to F'ville for dinner/shopping...

I even have family now from West Fork that we would meet in F'ville to go out to eat or something. Now they want to meet in Rogers/Bentonville.

 

These are just my observances and opinions, and I am sorry my experiences have exceeded what you feel F'ville can handle. That is kind of sad.

[aerotive]

No no your experiences are valid, 20 years ago Fayetteville had far and away the better shopping and dining options.  But of course Benton county has grown and is much more competitive especially with regards to shopping; frankly it's better up there.  Dining is still weak unless you are into chains though.  Mainly I'm glad this succuessful person has not visited Fayetteville.  That is a big relief, and not the least bit sad.  

[TRB]

When it comes to most retail and restuarants, You'll see twins on each end of 540, If it's in Rogers/Bentonville, it'll be in Fayetteville and vice versa. You have seen that with Academy and local (Grubbs, Theos) and chain restuarants as well.  It will no issue at all if the U of A keeps growing. The sticking point will be if Springdale can snag a few with the new overlay district around Arvest. I can honestly see them snagging a Costco or something that just wants a single footprint even in the future.

[wmr]

I'm pretty Fayetteville-centric, but even I can admit that Bentonville has several good local restaurants now.  Bentonville is doing things right in their downtown, too.  

[bubba72704]

I heard someone compare the arts/entertainment scene in NWA to a barbell.  i.e.  Really big on the ends (Bentonville & Fayetteville) but pretty skinny in between.  I think it's a pretty appropriate comparison.  Hard to really say that one end is better than the other - I just wish we could do more to fill in the middle area.  Hopefully in a decade or two Springdale will turn all those cool old buildings downtown into an awesome entertainment district.  I guess we'll see...

[JamesE]

I'm pretty Fayetteville-centric, but even I can admit that Bentonville has several good local restaurants now.  Bentonville is doing things right in their downtown, too.  D

 

 

A agree Bentonville downtown is great - the new WAC & kids museum is going to make it even better.

[wmr]

Here's a site that I found interesting, which allows you to find demographic information in a radius from any point on a map.  http://mcdc.missouri.edu/websas/caps10c.html

 

I looked at it to see how density is in downtown Fayetteville compared to other cities.  I chose Little Rock, because they are investing lots of energy into building a downtown community, and Oxford, MS, because its another SEC college town that life seems to center around its downtown square.

 

Fayetteville (WAC)

 

.5 mile - 3,027

1 mile - 14,025 (up from 13,161 in 2000)

3 miles- 50,835

 

Little Rock (Peabody)

 

.5 mile - 1,496 (up from 707 in 2000)

1 mile - 4,812

3 mile - I didn't bother

 

Oxford, MS (Historic Courthouse)

 

.5 mile - 1,847

1 mile - 6,592

3 mile - 24,002

 

At the 1 mile radius, Fayetteville has an impressive number of people living already.  As a few of these larger projects open up, I see downtown Fayetteville supporting more "neighborhood" retail rather quickly.  The numbers are already there.  At .5 mile radius, still a good number.  That number is already much higher due to the Sterling project and it will likely double over the next few years. 

 

Little Rock has made great strides, more than doubling the number of people living within .5 miles of the Peabody in a decade, but I found it interesting that more people live within .5 mile of the Oxford square than do the Peabody in downtown Little Rock.

 

 

Thanks for indulging my stat geek side.

 

 

[jb1087]

Downtown Little Rock is a very different story than downtown Fayetteville though.  I wasn't in NWA when Dickson Street was "bad", but I can't imagine it comparing to downtown Little Rock at night.  .5 miles from the Peabody (now Marriott?) will take A LOT of work before it compares to what's around the WAC.

[JamesE]

Call it a very early, vague report: the broker who sold me my new house recently sold two large lots near the Coop/Mill in the Mill District. He says that the lot adjacent to Greenhouse Grille is expected to be a 2-3 story structure with retail or offices on the lower level, topped with apartments. The larger, arguably better located lot right on the bike trail is expected to be somewhat similar to what Jacobs & Newell is putting in across the street, albeit it will be built by a different developer (that's disappointing). It will likely be a dense 2-3 story, possibily 4 story mixed purpose structure(s). The buyers are still very early in the development process so I have no hard details yet on what it will look like, but my understanding is they are already working with the city planning commision.  The link below is to what Jacobs + Newell is currently building in the Mill District:

 

http://www.jacobsnewellcompany.com/in-progress/

 

Some older homes recently sold on the north side of MLK, adjacent to J+N's Church St project.  The rumor is the buyer plans to demo the houses and then sit on the lots; either he'll flip them or develop them later for in-fill housing.

Edited December 20, 2013 by JamesE

[strmchsr77]

Thanks for the update James!  That area has really started to redevelop since the Mill District building was completed.  I guess the Walgreens didn't hurt either.

[wmr]

Thanks for the update James!  That area has really started to redevelop since the Mill District building was completed.  I guess the Walgreens didn't hurt either.

 

Perhaps the biggest impetus for infill in that area was the city's 2020 plan, and the subsequent Master Plan for development in South Fayetteville.  That ensured that Walker Park area would be preserved as single-family rather than re-zoned to apartments.  The plan was challenged in court by a property owner who wanted to build a crappy little apartment structure on two lots.  Fayetteville successfully defended the plan.  It started with a trickle of renovations in the Walker Park Neighborhood 6-7 years ago, and it has really taken off in the past two years.