Midtowne Little Rock

[Arkanzin]

Stanton Optical is going in at 112 S. University.  Not sure if that is the right address but it's close. 

Edited March 23, 2016 by Arkanzin

[Smith]

On 3/21/2016 at 0:24 PM, Heartland25 said:

Looks like Northwest Arkansas and dozens of other small-mid sized markets may be getting Top Golf. No mention of Little Rock unfortunately. I think one would do well around midtown or near the outlets. 

On 3/22/2016 at 9:15 AM, Arkanzin said:

Here's the article which listed targeted locations for Top Golf.  Top Golf Expansion sites.  The locations are:

New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La.; Huntsville, Ala.; northwest Arkansas; Providence, R.I.; Ft. Myers/Naples, Fla.; Greenville, S.C.; Albuquerque, N.M.; McAllen and El Paso, Texas and more.

 

There was an Arkansas Business article a couple months back that listed golf simulation as part of the wishlist for The Grove area behind the outlet mall. I do not know if TopGolf would qualify. I have been to TopGolf before and it is a lot of fun. They have very aggressive expansion plans and want to have 50 locations by 2020.

[Arkanzin]

7 minutes ago, Smith said:

There was an Arkansas Business article a couple months back that listed golf simulation as part of the wishlist for The Grove area behind the outlet mall. I do not know if TopGolf would qualify. I have been to TopGolf before and it is a lot of fun. They have very aggressive expansion plans and want to have 50 locations by 2020.

Seems like it would be a great fit with Dave and Buster's right next door.  

[theman]

Dirt work is going on for the Staybridge Suites on University and walls are starting to go up on the CVS.

[ArkansasTraveler]

On 3/23/2016 at 8:59 AM, Arkanzin said:

Stanton Optical is going in at 112 S. University.  Not sure if that is the right address but it's close. 

That's probably about right. McDonald's is at 104 S. University Avenue — as was Bennigan's before it.  I had wondered if we were in for yet another bank branch, though there hasn't been anything active on the site since the Bank of America closure around or before 2007.

[skirby]

Sears on South University will be closing in July.

[Allen Alexander]

18 minutes ago, skirby said:

Sears on South University will be closing in July.

Hopefully something new to the market will locate there. It's a good location.

[ecity3138]

11 minutes ago, Allen Alexander said:

Hopefully something new to the market will locate there. It's a good location.

I'm not surprised Sears closing since hardly few people shop there anymore. This will be a great opportunity for something new to the market like a Costco to locate there.

Edited April 22, 2016 by ecity3138

[Architect]

1 hour ago, skirby said:

Sears on South University will be closing in July.

Wow...Little Rock without a Sears.  We definitely live in a new era.

I was told recently by someone in the know, that the total annual revenue of that specific Sears store didn't equal the first MONTH of revenue when it opened in the early 1960's...not even adjusting for inflation!  Changing times indeed...so much more competition, changing buying patterns, online retail, etc, etc.

[Allen Alexander]

1 hour ago, Architect said:

Wow...Little Rock without a Sears.  We definitely live in a new era.

I was told recently by someone in the know, that the total annual revenue of that specific Sears store didn't equal the first MONTH of revenue when it opened in the early 1960's...not even adjusting for inflation!  Changing times indeed...so much more competition, changing buying patterns, online retail, etc, etc.

Well there is still a Sears in NLR at McCain. I know it's not in little rock but close enough. Hopefully that one will close too and draw in a good store for that area. Nordstrom is really needed somewhere in the metro.

[LRretail]

The owners of this section of Midtown are mostly out of town investors.  There's plans to demolish everything including the Sears building and the Sears branded auto center up front and turn everything into a medical office campus.  The plan also includes renovating the Doctors Building that was once Doctors Hospital....  Cause ya know, there's not enough medical office in the nearby vicinity or anything - not one bit.

[Architect]

8 hours ago, LRretail said:

The owners of this section of Midtown are mostly out of town investors.  There's plans to demolish everything including the Sears building and the Sears branded auto center up front and turn everything into a medical office campus.  The plan also includes renovating the Doctors Building that was once Doctors Hospital....  Cause ya know, there's not enough medical office in the nearby vicinity or anything - not one bit.

It certainly is a high-profile site with VERY HIGH visibility.  Hopefully something of significant will take its place.

I really thought the redevelopment of Park Avenue as a "new" retail center would help Sears, but I think the demise of the University Sears store is more a symptom of Sears' corporate struggles than any specific issue with the LR market.

[Smith]

I honestly thought it had closed already without me knowing. My wife and I cut through there from the Target a couple of weeks ago and there was maybe 3 cars in the parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. It was a sad sight.

[ArkansasTraveler]

On 4/22/2016 at 9:47 PM, Allen Alexander said:

Well there is still a Sears in NLR at McCain. I know it's not in little rock but close enough. Hopefully that one will close too and draw in a good store for that area. Nordstrom is really needed somewhere in the metro.

Hopefully, the current Sears employees will find better employment opportunities as well.  I can at least see the Sears anchor at McCain Mall one day becoming a Macy's, but a main-line Nordstrom would be a reach for either site.  The plum location Sears has occupied in Memphis along Poplar Avenue will at least partially become a Nordstrom Rack, which would still be a great addition to Central Arkansas's retail scene if it happened.

[dnashobviously]

Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported today that a Dairy Queen Chill Grill will be opening on the same lot of land as the new CVS on University.  This is interesting to me because it doesn't seem as if there is much land left there with the CVS and the hotel both being built currently. 

 

I was already wondering about the parking for the hotel and now this is being reported so I am anxious to see how that block looks once fully completed. 

[adman0468]

On August 11, 2016 at 11:31 PM, dnashobviously said:

Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported today that a Dairy Queen Chill Grill will be opening on the same lot of land as the new CVS on University.  This is interesting to me because it doesn't seem as if there is much land left there with the CVS and the hotel both being built currently. 

Seems odd that Dairy Queen would move back into the LR market just one block over from where their last attempt failed. I forget what the place is now, but it's been fish, Chinese, Mexican and Say Macintosh. Facing 12th street and being hidden from University by the hotel and CVS makes it seem less than ideally visible.

[theman]

According to Arkansas Business, The Shop Companies out of Dallas is marketing the former Sears property as The Shops at University Village for a grocery store and two out parcels.

[Architect]

7 hours ago, theman said:

According to Arkansas Business, The Shop Companies out of Dallas is marketing the former Sears property as The Shops at University Village for a grocery store and two out parcels.

So strange.  I had heard that the former Sears store was (unsurprisingly) the top Sears store by revenue in the state, and the only reason it closed was that the land owners wouldn't renew their lease and wanted them gone.  Shocking then that they would take the position that a grocery store would be an improvement.

[LRU1967]

On 10/14/2016 at 9:16 AM, Architect said:

So strange.  I had heard that the former Sears store was (unsurprisingly) the top Sears store by revenue in the state, and the only reason it closed was that the land owners wouldn't renew their lease and wanted them gone.  Shocking then that they would take the position that a grocery store would be an improvement.

The only grocery store that would be successful is a Trader Joe's. 

[Arkanzin]

The grocery store is apparently a Kroger Marketplace.  What does that mean for the Kroger at Markham and Rodney Parham and the Kroger on Beechwood?  

I think a Trader Joe's or an H&M in the out parcels would help with the proposed center.

I'd still prefer a Costco in that location though.  

[SangreRaVen]

well, better than another wal mart  though Costco would have been better

 

-R

[LRretail]

On 10/14/2016 at 9:16 AM, Architect said:

So strange.  I had heard that the former Sears store was (unsurprisingly) the top Sears store by revenue in the state, and the only reason it closed was that the land owners wouldn't renew their lease and wanted them gone.  Shocking then that they would take the position that a grocery store would be an improvement.

Sears has been limping along there.  Although I'm sure it was the top grossing Sears in the state, that's probably not saying much.  Sears was always very coy with ownership of the property.  They would always commit only two one or two year extensions of their lease.  This last renewal they asked the land owners to help them remodel or build a new building and the owners refused.  After no word back from Sears, the land owners notified Sears of non-renewal and have been secretly marketing the property for about a year.  The commercial agents representing the ownership group is not very informative and has been very vague to local reps about what they are expecting as far as rent or any general plans besides the Kroger.  The layout of the center seems to change from day to day.

[ArkansasTraveler]

1 hour ago, Arkanzin said:

The grocery store is apparently a Kroger Marketplace.  What does that mean for the Kroger at Markham and Rodney Parham and the Kroger on Beechwood?  

I think a Trader Joe's or an H&M in the out parcels would help with the proposed center.

I'd still prefer a Costco in that location though.  

It might spell the end of the Kroger on Colonel Glenn, before it leads to closing the W. Markham or Hillcrest locations, if Kroger is indeed who goes in. A coworker tells me that the developer typically works with Kroger in many of their shopping centers, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

An estimated 123,000 SF store doesn't get filled by just any chain. Trader Joe's locations average around a tenth of that size. It's near the average size for Costco (144,283 SF) and in an area that Walmart doesn't reach (though Target does), but it's also geographically far from Costco's nearest locations (Memphis, DFW, OKC).

[SangreRaVen]

I know that Costco has been trying to come in though for a while but I am sure Wal-Mart would put up a fuss kinda like how Oak Lawn did with Dave and Buster's.. they don't like having anything else in their back yard. 

 

-R

[adman0468]

47 minutes ago, ArkansasTraveler said:

It might spell the end of the Kroger on Colonel Glenn, before it leads to closing the W. Markham or Hillcrest locations, if Kroger is indeed who goes in. A coworker tells me that the developer typically works with Kroger in many of their shopping centers, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

An estimated 123,000 SF store doesn't get filled by just any chain. Trader Joe's locations average around a tenth of that size. It's near the average size for Costco (144,283 SF) and in an area that Walmart doesn't reach (though Target does), but it's also geographically far from Costco's nearest locations (Memphis, DFW, OKC).

I could see it replacing the Markham/Rodney Parham Kroger. Especially with the one at 430 and Rodney Parham not that far away. 

The Hillcrest one seems insulated enough just because it's so popular with that neighborhood. But the parking lot is tiny and it departing might actually help the Heights one, too.

Maybe the Hillcrest one will close and be replaced by a Trader Joe's?