cocothief

That area has a lot of potential. A lot of the rentals in that neighborhood have been seriously upgraded in the past couple of years. To add to that, I do know for a fact that the North Street Church of Christ property across the street is also on the market, however it is priced including the building, and much of the land falls into the Scull Creek Floodway and Floodplain. Combined with the building "value" and the obvious expenses required to bring a lot of the land up a few feet due to its proximity to Scull Creek, its obvious why this property hasn't moved yet. Perhaps with the market correction we are due for in NWA, the price will come down. That entire area could become a nice little off campus neighborhood eventually with some neighborhood retail and nicer housing. The extension of the Scull Creek Trail will make the area even more attractive in the next couple of years.

I headed south today for some business and I saw the progress on Lindsey's new Southern View mixed use apartments on the northbound frontage road at 6th and I-540. I must say I am surprised by this development. It is larger than I thought and has a neat look to it. Will be interesting to see how it all works out. Given that there is no other real "urban fabric" nearby, this project might be too small to have to stand alone unless there is room to expand it to the north at some point. I'd love to see something like this tried in more areas of town that are closer in to other residential and a real street grid. I hope this project is successful and will inspire more projects of this type in and around Fayetteville, and hopefully by Lindsey.

Excellent sunsets, though. Both today and last Friday.

I think it would be ok to change College to a three lane road from North Street to 6th street. Traffic could be diverted at each point, particularly if the city retook the street and enforced no through trucks in that area. I don't find traffic to be terribly heavy between these two streets, and the traffic calming has worked well on Dickson Street. It would take some adjustment by the residents taking that route, and lower speed limits but I think the benefits would be incredible as far as allowing the area to redevelop into more dense, more ped-friendly neighborhood. As for boulevarding the remainder of College Ave, I think that is feasible from North to Milsap, and that there is room for some side frontage roads at least along some portions. If only the city had the benefactors that line up to donate $ to UA athletics... Then of course we'd have to rename it Walton Avenue.

Its almost a foregone conclusion that there will eventually be two in Fayetteville. I found some of the commentary from residents during the open forum to be very short-sighted, especially that from teens currently attending FHS. The decision will eventually be made. I think the school district should build a smaller high school somewhere NE for about 600 students, and at first make attendance flexible and optional. Some students would not care as much about athletics as long as academics could be made comparable. If the smaller NE high school is built, build it with a definite floor plan of how it can be easily expanded when needed. That would allow the SD to lock in some of the construction and land prices at today's cost, while not alienating all of the residents who base their school choices on athletic classifications.

I think you mean Gregg. Connecting Van Asche with Garland would require a connection to or overpass of I-540.

As stated in my original post on the matter, the SIZE of the complex.

I don't find anything atypical about this complex, save the incorporation of masonry materials and some thoroughfare commercial fronting the major thoroughfare. "The Cliffs" are "garden style" apartments too. These are the freestanding, duplicated 4 and 8 plexes which are already all over NWA. This apartment complex is huge. If/ When it becomes low income, it will impact the surrounding neighborhood much more than a project 1/8 its size. This will by far be the largest apartment community in Fayetteville. For property value's sake, I sure as heck would not want it in my backyard.

Article from NY Time mentions new Hendrix urban village: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/educatio...and&emc=rss

gar'den apart'ment 1. an apartment on the ground floor of an apartment building having direct access to a backyard or garden. 2. a low-level apartment building or building complex surrounded by lawns and trees, shrubbery, or gardens. 3. a prefab dwelling unit of standardized design with a shelf-life of 20 years or less.

Sorry, but you're wrong. These are "garden style" apartments.

My only big problem with this development is that it is vast. When it turns south, and garden style apartment complexes always do, it will virtually ensure that the surrounding area becomes a slum.

Well hooray for Lindsey. This could be something nice, particularly if he decides to expand the development and create a larger mixed use area. I didn't realize the upstairs were housing. Given the scale of the project I assumed they were offices. It still doesn't make up for the hideous apartments on the hillside or those directly north of this project.

Yeah I saw it the other day. It does look interesting, and its definitely and improvement over the standard strip mall. It looks a little crammed onto the site, and I'm curious to see how well the second floor office space leases out. Access is limited by the one way frontage road, too. Regardless of how it turns out, nice try whoever did it.

I don't think an existing mall is going to run into a lot of issues getting tenants because of who the landlord is unless it is just grossly mismanaged. Starting up is a different story, however. The issues regarding clout may factor in if the mall attempts an expansion, but thats as much a factor of working capital as it is "who ya know". Just my 2 cents.

I don't quite get what you mean that "certain developers" conspired with the planning commissions to change the building standards. Please clue me in.

Fort Smith's biggest potential is in its downtown. The river bend and scenery down there are absolutely beautiful.

Every penny counts to a man like Lindsey. I suppose when factoring in design standards, on must consider not only the costs of additional creative work, but also the legal/people hours involved in putting a design before a committee for possible muiltiple reviews. Lord knows the exhaustive scrutiny most other development in Fayetteville gets does not come without an actual quanitifiable price to developers associated with repeated reviews and revisions.

I'm inclined to believe that design standards will affect Lindsey's ability to mass purchase materials and use the same designs over and over again as he's done up to this point. That's why he's in a tizzy about design standards. I believe you can create affordable housing with community design standards as well. Making Lindsey design anything no doubt will damage his proforma. I bet his margins are pretty solid regardless. One doesn't get rich by wasting money.

I'd wager that much like Wal-Mart, Lindsey is able to make a go of the cheaper apartments due in part to some economies of scale he achieves through management of his properties. Lord knows they all have the same floor plans. His maintenance men probably work more efficiently than buttonsewers in a Southeast Asian sweatshop. He's probably purchasing HVAC units, shower inserts and formica by the truckoad, too.

Lindsey is meeting a need because it makes him money. He's the Wal-Mart of developers up here. Cranking out generic apartments in high volume is what he does. I have observed much of Lindsey's business dealings in NWA. I am strongly inclined to believe that his complaints are more about his feeling that he may lose a portion of the market he has cornered in NWA with his mass-produced apartments than any geniune concern for those less fortunate. Bringing up the Fair Housing Act, et al is just a heavy handed attempt to get his way, community design standards be damned. Its all about the Benjamins with Mr. Lindsey. Just my humble opinion, of course.

Lindsey has a good point about design standards making it harder to construct affordable housing in Fayetteville. The city's impact fees, etc already make it harder for lower priced homes to be built in Fayetteville. As a homeowner, it only helps my property values. The city seems to want to have its cake and eat it too on this one. I'm not sure what point Lindsey is trying to make about the standards being illegal. I don't think we'll be at the point anytime in the near future where housing in Fayetteville is so expensive so as to create some sort of violation of the Fair Housing Act, which I believe he alluded to. He's a businessman first and foremost. There's plenty of other parts of NWA where he can continue to crank out his pre-fab formula without protest. Here's to more DPZ and less Lindsey in the 'ville.

I completely agree. Most forwarding thinking cities would do anything to have natural areas such as this in the center of town. Many attempt to recreate natural areas or accent new development with newly planted parks,etc. This is a rare asset in the middle of a city and I like the idea of its preservation.

No one's saying RSD isn't expanding. Its been expanding for decades, and it will continue into perpetuity for all we know. Thats practically a given. All I'm saying is that IF a TIF was EVER going to be a consideration, like in Fayetteville, that NOW would be the time because of all of the new development out west which will increase revenues to the point that the downtown property tax revenue increases over the next ten years dedicated to redevelopment won't be sorely missed. While the land along 540 was very valuable prior to development, there's a huge difference between the property taxes from greenfield and taxes on whats being constructed there right now. If ever there is ever going to be a surplus of property tax revenue in Rogers which would allow a portion to be siphoned off of downtown and put towards improving downtown, its going to be in the next couple of years of assessments.

Well if there ever is a good time to start a TIF district downtown, its now. The RSD isn't going to stop growing anytime soon, and will soon get accustomed to all of the new tax $ it will start getting this year. I think the Pinnacle Hills area finally getting off the ground will allow Rogers city leaders to maybe think about their downtown a little bit more. All you heard for years from Rogers city government was the need for more retail sales tax $. A trickle started with Scottsdale, now there should be a flood with the Promenade. Rogers has accomplished its goal of becoming the "second city" of NWA. Maybe now that the west side has momentum, downtown will get some of the attention from the city leaders whether that be in the form of a TIF district or just investment in infrastructure improvements.