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Restaurant Development in NW Arkansas

mcheiss

By mcheiss
in Northwest Arkansas

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Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

Posted
Posted

As much of a waste of time it is to reply to this line of unproductive and unsubstantial commentary I would like you to please cut & paste any negative comments I've made about Fayetteville in this thread.

How can you say I've overstated Benton County's assets when I haven't even come close to covering all of the new developments in Benton County? If anything I've understated Benton County.

Just admit that the facts I posted about there being more wealth and more money being spent in Bentonville and Rogers than Fayetteville hurt your feelings. I have always been unbiased in my posting and I have posted some very good facts about Fayetteville which you seem to have either ignored or have forgotten.

When I post some great stuff about Fayetteville you say nothing in reply so why do you decide to "retaliate" when I have some great things to say about Benton County?

Why would it hurt my feelings? I'm not from Fayetteville and have never lived there. I have much stronger connections with Benton Co where my brother, sister, mother, and grandparents live and I've visited frequently all of my life. I'm sorry, there's just not that much in Benton Co I can't find in any metro of more than a quarter million in my eyes. I think Fayetteville is attractive and more unique and adds some culture and soul to an otherwise kind of drab area. Even the newer developments in Fayetteville, things like the Three Sisters, have some imagination and are less vanilla than what we see in the developments North of there. I think Benton Co is making mistakes with haphazard development and down the road it's going to cost them. Then again, I am on an urban forum rather than a suburban one and different things seem to impress me than what impresses you.

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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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Why would it hurt my feelings? I'm not from Fayetteville and have never lived there. I have much stronger connections with Benton Co where my brother, sister, mother, and grandparents live and I've visited frequently all of my life. I'm sorry, there's just not that much in Benton Co I can't find in any metro of more than a quarter million in my eyes. I think Fayetteville is attractive and more unique and adds some culture and soul to an otherwise kind of drab area. Even the newer developments in Fayetteville, things like the Three Sisters, have some imagination and are less vanilla than what we see in the developments North of there. I think Benton Co is making mistakes with haphazard development and down the road it's going to cost them. Then again, I am on an urban forum rather than a suburban one and different things seem to impress me than what impresses you.

I can see how people who live in big metros come here and leave unimpressed... I guess it takes living here to realize just how great this metro is and how much greater it's getting each year. Fayetteville does have a more artistic flair to developments like the Three Sisters and some of the planned developments like Park West. Although homes being built in Benton County are as archtecturally artistic as any in NWA. Benton County is also getting some unique architecture like the Shoppes at Pinnacle Hills and Park Central in Rogers. I believe Crystal Bridges will set new records to unique architecture in NWA. I also find Historic Downtown Rogers to be unequalled in historic architecture in the metro which is why it's always one of the best Downtowns on Arkansas' Mainstreet program. In Rogers, unlike many downtowns, you won't find new modern buildings mixed in with the historic buildings.

Northwest Arkansas won't face any greater challenges than any other metro that is growing as fast of which there aren't many. I would rather be here where the growth is new rather than just remodelled like in many larger metros. In a few short years many of the problems with roads and sprawl will be corrected then NWA will be the envy of the nation. It's already the envy of many... minus a few.

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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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How do they plan on controlling sprawl?
Sprawl, I find, is a very difficult thing to correct once it exists.

Sprawl really doesn't exist in Northwest Arkansas. The urbanized area of NWA is only a corridor about 6 miles wide and about 30 miles long. It's not like a city like Dallas that's over 50 miles wide in all directions. Bentonville has a very detailed master plan that was actually developed by a new urbanism team. Bentonville's plan is to create a dense downtown area that will draw in developments to prevent sprawl. Here are some sample graphics from the Bentonville Master Plan:

112757426_00659594f5_o.jpgThe Master Plan

112757428_078860f7d3_o.jpgCommercial District

112757429_cd2df3cb78_o.jpgMulti-story Mixed-Use

112757430_754a4e0e77_o.jpgMulti-story Mixed-Use

You can check out the Bentonville Master Plan here.

Rogers is not doing as well with controlling sprawl because everyone wants to develop around Beaver Lake which is several miles from the main commercial areas of downtown and Pinnacle Hills. But if residents keep opposing Beaver Lake developments it shouldn't be an issue. Pinnacle Hills is actually driving business away from downtown which is good and bad. Good that it will keep downtown Rogers in it's current "historic" state. Bad that it creates sprawl even if on a smaller scale.

The fact that most development in Northwest Arkansas is happening along the I-540 corridor will actually help prevent sprawl as there are no other major arteries other than Hwy 412 in Springdale. The only problem with I-540 is that it'll make it harder for downtown areas to draw in commercial development.

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DickSonstreetDFW Whistle-Stop

DickSonstreetDFW

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^^Thats nice.

All good intentions aside, the only thing that will prevent sprawl in NWA is regulation of development.

Thats a very touchy subject.

Unless the cities actually regulate development like Fayetteville seems intent on, developers will always be moving out to the next cheapest parcel to build a subdivision. I believe that there will always be another municipality (Springdale, for the time being) willing to sacrifice any notions of true urban density on the alter of growth at all costs. There are simply too many egos involved and too many taxes to be collected to prevent it.

And even Fayetteville, with all of its urban good intentions, cannot fully control what is done in the rest of Washington County, unless it wants to annex it all.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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^^Thats nice.

All good intentions aside, the only thing that will prevent sprawl in NWA is regulation of development.

Thats a very touchy subject.

Unless the cities actually regulate development like Fayetteville seems intent on, developers will always be moving out to the next cheapest parcel to build a subdivision. I believe that there will always be another municipality (Springdale, for the time being) willing to sacrifice any notions of true urban density on the alter of growth at all costs. There are simply too many egos involved and too many taxes to be collected to prevent it.

And even Fayetteville, with all of its urban good intentions, cannot fully control what is done in the rest of Washington County, unless it wants to annex it all.

Yeah you have to have incentives or reasons for developers to not build on the outskirts of the area. You're going to have more available land and it will be cheaper on the outskirts. One of the people at the 2025 City Plan meetings here in Fayetteville suggested having variable impact fees. Make impact fees cheaper closer to the city core and more expensive the further out you go as one way. That and another thing that helps is to annex land and have the city leaders make sure developers have projects that are more beneficial to the city.

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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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Church's in Rogers is now built. It's in front of the Super Mercado (Harp's) on 13th Street and Walnut. Not open yet but they're hiring if anyone is looking for a great opportunity to make minimum wage and eat all the chicken your heart desires... or can take before it fails. :D

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Church's in Rogers is now built. It's in front of the Super Mercado (Harp's) on 13th Street and Walnut. Not open yet but they're hiring if anyone is looking for a great opportunity to make minimum wage and eat all the chicken your heart desires... or can take before it fails. :D

:lol: Thanks for the update. :D

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tim2462 Hamlet

tim2462

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TGI Friday's franchise owner says he is looking at Rogers, Bentonville, and "other areas" for more possible stores. He says he wanted to get the Fayetteville location up and going and feed off of that for about 6 months before building more. They are in the process of finding land for other possible locations.

I think he needs to come build more down here in Little Rock. We still only have the one in Lakewood Village in NLR. You'd think Little Rock would have a location. Chili's is the one that's really expanding down here. There were just 2, one in LR, one in NLR. Now, in addition to those, we have loacations in Conway, Jacksonville, Hot Springs, Pine Bluff, and still others on the way in West Little Rock, Benton, and Searcy.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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TGI Friday's franchise owner says he is looking at Rogers, Bentonville, and "other areas" for more possible stores. He says he wanted to get the Fayetteville location up and going and feed off of that for about 6 months before building more. They are in the process of finding land for other possible locations.

I think he needs to come build more down here in Little Rock. We still only have the one in Lakewood Village in NLR. You'd think Little Rock would have a location. Chili's is the one that's really expanding down here. There were just 2, one in LR, one in NLR. Now, in addition to those, we have loacations in Conway, Jacksonville, Hot Springs, Pine Bluff, and still others on the way in West Little Rock, Benton, and Searcy.

Yeah I am a bit surprised they haven't made more of a move here in Arkansas. A Benton County location and a couple more around Little Rock seem feasible.

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tim2462 Hamlet

tim2462

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I don't care if there is another TGIFridays built, anywhere, ever.

Some of us aren't against chains like others. If it weren't for chains like that, NWA wouldn't be what it is now. Chains are what people look for. You same people say you can't wait until upscale chain retail stores come in to add to the appeal of the area.

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skirby Town

skirby

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Yeah I am a bit surprised they haven't made more of a move here in Arkansas. A Benton County location and a couple more around Little Rock seem feasible.

At one time there was a TGI Fridys in LR. It was located on 3rd, the building is still there. They wanted to open their windows up during the summer but the city would not let them. It was against the law at that time to have so-called outdoor dinning.

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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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I don't care if there is another TGIFridays built, anywhere, ever.

I'm beginning to agree with you to a point. There are plenty of opportunities for mom & pop operations to open bar/restaurants like Hog Haus Brewery on Dickson. I'm not much of a drinker but I want to check that place out. I will never take my family into a TGIFridays or any other chain bar/restaurants unless it has some local character. I'm not totally against chains moving to the area but I hate to see local merchants suffering because of them. Imagine them opening a Books-A-Million store next door to Dickson Street Bookshop!

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Aporkalypse City

Aporkalypse

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At one time there was a TGI Fridys in LR. It was located on 3rd, the building is still there. They wanted to open their windows up during the summer but the city would not let them. It was against the law at that time to have so-called outdoor dinning.

Cotham's is in the building now and doing very, very well.

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tim2462 Hamlet

tim2462

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^

Some of us do Tim, like me. I support both Chains and Local Restaurants.

It doesn't make sense to me why some people are so against chains.

All chains were once local stores. They just expanded. Any local store that

is successful will branch out and become a chain. We are already seeing several

local stores in NWA that have become chains. Wal-mart was once a mom & pop store.

Now it's a huge chain store. I wouldn't live in a town without a wal-mart.

If it weren't for chain stores, NWA's population wouldn't be growing at all.

Not to mention the fact that there wouldn't be enough local stores to go around.

It's nice to have both local and chain stores. But to curse all chain stores just because

they are "chain" is rediculous. Without them, we'd be in bad shape.

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