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Fayetteville, Arkansas


Mith242

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Fayetteville's Dickson Street Bookstore gets a worldwide honor from Buzzfeed.  Would if the store become as big and airy as some of those others, but regardless, congratulations to them.

That is very cool! Pat of DSB's charm is that it feels like an episode of Hoarders at times- I like having to weave my way through stacks of books.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know if anyone else was wondering what is going on at the Veteran's Hospital campus but they are adding a 500 spot parking garage. I'm sure the parking users appreciate the covered parking that was recently added but it takes away from the appearance of the grounds, IMO.

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but, but that's solar covered parking. hideous but green! Wonder how much that was in the midst of the VA scandals.

Oh, really? Wow- I'm all for green but it doesn't quite work in that location. Doesn't seem an appropriate use of cash by that agency, does it?

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I don't know if anyone else was wondering what is going on at the Veteran's Hospital campus but they are adding a 500 spot parking garage. I'm sure the parking users appreciate the covered parking that was recently added but it takes away from the appearance of the grounds, IMO.

 

I totally agree.  That covered parking takes away from the otherwise good looking view of that building.  If they were going to add a 500 space parking garage, why not wait, and eventually remove all of the upfront parking in front of that historic building rather than clutter it up more?  Govt workers spending money that they don't have to account for, no doubt.  

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Way too early to get too excited about this just yet.  Especially after the previous project that never came about.  But there's still some hope maybe something good might come out of the former Mountain Inn property.  The new owner apparently is looking into a hotel/retail/condo mixed development at that location.

 

http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/2014/06/26/new-mountain-inn-owner-plans-hotel-retail-condo-project/

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Way too early to get too excited about this just yet.  Especially after the previous project that never came about.  But there's still some hope maybe something good might come out of the former Mountain Inn property.  The new owner apparently is looking into a hotel/retail/condo mixed development at that location.

 

http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/2014/06/26/new-mountain-inn-owner-plans-hotel-retail-condo-project/

I know the Ren Tower wasn't everyone's first choice but I'd love to see a similar project there. Hopefully it will still be a landmark building that adds to the skyline and draws people downtown.

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I know the Ren Tower wasn't everyone's first choice but I'd love to see a similar project there. Hopefully it will still be a landmark building that adds to the skyline and draws people downtown.

My understanding of the developer is that he has a SIGNIFICANT net worth and experience developing very successful multiuse properties. This has a real chance.

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I know the Ren Tower wasn't everyone's first choice but I'd love to see a similar project there. Hopefully it will still be a landmark building that adds to the skyline and draws people downtown.

 

I liked Ren Tower.  I think mainly only small town hippie types hated it because it looked like money.

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Sincerely hope the Mountain Inn project comes to fruition. While researching the old Renaissance Tower project I came across this old thread (scroll down about halfway down the page) which shows many of the big projects in NWA back in 2006, many of which either went bankrupt or never got off the ground. It's amazing to see the hubris of the market back then.

Quite a trip down memory lane.... http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/topic/30457-master-list-major-northwest-arkansas-construction/

Edited by bubba72704
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This is very exciting news in my opinion!  Looks like it will be quite some time before this gets off the ground (around 2 years).  I am certainly looking forward to seeing the plans for this development and I really hope that it adds to the skyline.  Does anyone know what the maximum building height is for that area of downtown?  I want to say 12 stories or 164 feet which would be shorter than the Chancellor Hotel at 15 stories.  Of course I'd love to see 20 stories...

 

Link to the Times article:  http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/jun/27/new-owner-for-old-mountain-inn-site-in-/

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Fayetteville's Library eyes a 50 million dollar expansion with 80,000 square feet. That would leave half of the City Hospital land still available for future use. The Flyer has a write up. I'd say a killer playground/slide complex would be cool in that space. I can see this packaged in some sort of bond proposal with a Rogers like aquatic center to give it a broader appeal.

Edited by TRB
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This is very exciting news in my opinion!  Looks like it will be quite some time before this gets off the ground (around 2 years).  I am certainly looking forward to seeing the plans for this development and I really hope that it adds to the skyline.  Does anyone know what the maximum building height is for that area of downtown?  I want to say 12 stories or 164 feet which would be shorter than the Chancellor Hotel at 15 stories.  Of course I'd love to see 20 stories...

 

Link to the Times article:  http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/jun/27/new-owner-for-old-mountain-inn-site-in-/

 

I think its the max in town at 184 feet.  I think 16-18 stories are possible by right in that area.  

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WMR- I don't think anything on the books matter. I think that's why they voted the way they voted last time. It's so that if anything comes up that has to get variances, it's going to have to go to the council for approval. It's the council's way of micromanaging developments. They'll make the rules as they go along and it'll vary on the boards makeup. It's a way to stop buildings meeting the requirements that were in place but may not have been ideal, like, say that 5 story will be student housing and met the old requirements like Frisco did, they can nix it but if a developer plans those to be condos, well they can override the new standards.

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WMR- I don't think anything on the books matter. I think that's why they voted the way they voted last time. It's so that if anything comes up that has to get variances, it's going to have to go to the council for approval. It's the council's way of micromanaging developments. They'll make the rules as they go along and it'll vary on the boards makeup. It's a way to stop buildings meeting the requirements that were in place but may not have been ideal, like, say that 5 story will be student housing and met the old requirements like Frisco did, they can nix it but if a developer plans those to be condos, well they can override the new standards.

I think that is exactly right- its more on the merits (or whims of the council, depending on how you look at it) of the particular project. This is one project that is likely to be approved for a higher than allowed by ordinance level. The Ren Tower would have been 18 floors and height was never the issue with it. It has been mentioned several times by community leaders that this is the spot for a landmark building that adds to the skyline.

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Fayetteville's Library eyes a 50 million dollar expansion with 80,000 square feet. That would leave half of the City Hospital land still available for future use. The Flyer has a write up. I'd say a killer playground/slide complex would be cool in that space. I can see this packaged in some sort of bond proposal with a Rogers like aquatic center to give it a broader appeal.

I like the idea that they are thinking big and expanding the idea of what a library is. The larger auditorium space is a great idea- it is obvious that it is needed seeing that the current small space is very inadequate for what it used for.  The idea of selling of part of the property to build row house residences in order to raise money to fund the rest of the project is a good one. I agree that Fayetteville needs a municipal aquatic center beyond Wilson Park's swimming pool but don't think this site would be a good fit for it. If and when such a center is built it will be likely be out at the new park south of town. Not the ideal site IMO but most likely.

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That was meant as more of a small park with a small splash pad features with the slides being more than a from a commercial playground  equipment company catalog and it being a more nature setting, see the castle at Wilson. The aquatic center is addressed in the Wish List thread.

 

Slides and splash pad in the spirit of the pics in the attachments but with real rock and a much more nature setting with a garden feel.

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post-29082-0-42405700-1404050986_thumb.j

post-29082-0-76236600-1404051288_thumb.p

post-29082-0-44481100-1404051471_thumb.j

Edited by TRB
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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't usually have a reason to  use the new North College flyover path but I did today just because. It brought a smile to my face! This will open up the Steele Crossing area like never before and with the Van Asche extension project should spur development in that area. The reduction of left turning vehicles at northbound College and Joyce Bvld.is amazing. The community and state leaders that made this possible should pat themselves on the back.

 

There is still work to be done, obviously. A direct connection between I49 and Joyce Bvld. is essential for the Steele Crossing/ NWA Mall area to reach its full potential. The city/state needs to provide that direct connection so that the residents of the NWA metro living north of Fayetteville have the easiest possible path to spend their money in the city.

 

A flyover connecting Fulbright Expressway to Vantage via Sain is also a obvious need. The traffic exiting Fulbright and wanting to continue east on Joyce still has to veer across several lanes of traffic on North College in order to do so. That flyover would help create a much needed east/ west corridor that Fayetteville has a severe lack of.

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I don't usually have a reason to  use the new North College flyover path but I did today just because. It brought a smile to my face! This will open up the Steele Crossing area like never before and with the Van Asche extension project should spur development in that area. The reduction of left turning vehicles at northbound College and Joyce Bvld.is amazing. The community and state leaders that made this possible should pat themselves on the back.

 

There is still work to be done, obviously. A direct connection between I49 and Joyce Bvld. is essential for the Steele Crossing/ NWA Mall area to reach its full potential. The city/state needs to provide that direct connection so that the residents of the NWA metro living north of Fayetteville have the easiest possible path to spend their money in the city.

 

A flyover connecting Fulbright Expressway to Vantage via Sain is also a obvious need. The traffic exiting Fulbright and wanting to continue east on Joyce still has to veer across several lanes of traffic on North College in order to do so. That flyover would help create a much needed east/ west corridor that Fayetteville has a severe lack of.

Yeah I've used the flyover a little bit.  But haven't really had the need to use the College/Joyce intersection yet.  Been curious to just how many vehicles this has been pulling off.  But yes, really curious to see how the Van Asche extension will improve that area.  And as you said, they do need to find some sort of direct I-49 connection as well.  Fayetteville has a lot of competition up in Benton County and needs to make access to retail in that part of the city a priority.  

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Yeah I've used the flyover a little bit.  But haven't really had the need to use the College/Joyce intersection yet.  Been curious to just how many vehicles this has been pulling off.  But yes, really curious to see how the Van Asche extension will improve that area.  And as you said, they do need to find some sort of direct I-49 connection as well.  Fayetteville has a lot of competition up in Benton County and needs to make access to retail in that part of the city a priority.  

I bet they will wait awhile before doing traffic counts at College/Joyce just so people will get used to the change. If you are going to anyplace along the frontage road its a big help.

 

That direct connection to I49 would help a lot in Steele Crossing filling up. That area including the NWA Mall is still responsible for a lot of the sales tax revenue that the City collects so we need to try and compete at least. There will always be Benton County residents that want to check out the neighbors to the south and what is new down here. We just need to make it convenient for them.

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One thing I have noticed, since I work in the area, is that the stop light on Millsap seems to back up further with traffic northbound on College.  The couple of times I have been through there in the later afternoons the cars are backed up almost to the Ford Dealership.   I don't know if it was just bad timing or what but once the Whole Foods opens up I can see that area being even more congested.  Time will tell...

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  • 3 weeks later...

There's activity at the Bellafonte site off Joyce Blvd. where Barber had his office towers planned. It look like simply cleanup work but maybe something is in the works??? That is still a premier location in Fayetteville for class a office space.

Edited by zman9810
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