wmr

Looking through some city planning documents and I find that Crafton Tull is requesting a rezone of a large "uptown" parcel at Steele Blvd and Van Asche to be rezoned C-3, with the intent of constructing multi-family. This is the NE Corner of the intersection, just south of the creek from Academy Sports. The project is described as housing for "the executive community" with the buildings facing Steele and Van Ashe, and parking garages (it sounded like individual parking for townhomes) accessed from behind the buildings. This isn't the best thing that could go there, but it sounds pretty good to me. Between this and the new SRG project just north of there at Steele & Joyce, "Uptown" is actually going to have some residential density happening. That's pretty cool. The new 2-story UARK Federal Credit Union building is going to be built just across Steele to the west. That strip will look much different a year from now. No more fields.

Let's hope so. At some point, apt demand is going to shift in this city. Older apartment complexes don't just evaporate when they've reached the end of their usefulness. They go Section 8.

I'd hate this if I lived out there. Huge apartment complexes aren't good to be near.

So comreguy, fast food, casual or fast casual for the restaurant on the corner there?

Let's see....Fayetteville should be getting a Chuy's or one of the other things Benton County got first. I can't remember all of them, the list has gotten so long.

I think that's a bad idea, and not from a "brow" perspective. Its a very difficult lot to enter and exit. Northbound on College, you'd have right turn in/right turn out only access. No southbound College Ave access. And there's virtually impossible access from Joyce other than right-turn in westbound, and that's barely possible at rush hour or lunch time because of the traffic that piles up there. In short, convenient, it is not. Something that benefits from high visibility but can work with inconvenient access. That's the reason I suggested office, mainly because people would be coming and going at predictable times. Build your building close to the hard corner and put the access points as far from the corner as you possibly can. The Walgreens to the west across College at least has the little "frontage rd" along the boundary with College and an entrance far enough west to avoid the center median that exists as you approach the light.

Colony is the new location for Haas Hall Academy. I've also noticed the NE corner of Joyce and College appears to have mostly cleared out. That area is too congested for retail at the hard corner in my opinion. I'd think it might be ideal for a high profile office location. Don't know if the demand exists for something like that.

I enjoy reading these threads. Thanks for keeping the information coming. Lots of us read but don't chime in often.

Interesting article about "Hanger Hill" neighborhood revitalization efforts: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/may/24/realtor-is-high-on-hanger-hill-20150524/

The 412 By-pass, whenever it is completed, will likely spur more development in Madison County to the east, and Siloam Springs to the west. Having a freeway with direct connection to I-49 will make commutes from both areas to the job centers in northern Benton County feasible. Huntsville might actually become a real suburb once 412 is completed. That will also make the areas in Goshen and immediately east of Goshen more attractive for commuters. After that happens, I could see a limited access "parkway" making sense on the east side, from Elkins/Greenland, near Goshen, to tie the southeast side of the metro to 412.

Fayetteville has Fiat, which doesn't go into every little market out there. Land Rover should come soon. I'd think Benton County would be the location.

JB Hunt is planning a 7-story tower at the Lowell campus. The newspaper says it will bring more than 1,000 jobs to NWA.

I'm in favor of 8 lanes of I-49 with better connectivity to the freeway in all cities. A western bypass would only create more sprawl.

I think you're right. Their former building was demolished to make way for Phi Mu.

Lifetime near the new Whole Foods would be awesome. With the flyover, quick in and out for people from W. Fay, Springdale, Johnson, etc. Their DFW gyms are huge. Maybe a scaled down concept would work in NWA. Put one there in Fayetteville, and another one in the Pinnacle area.

I wonder what is up with that? I wish we could get 24 hour fitness or Lifetime Fitness into this market. I know we probably don't have the demographics for either.

Here's a little story about the boom in downtown Springdale. It looks like the often scoffed "Springdale renaissance" is actually happening.... http://www.nwahomepage.com/story/d/story/springdale-seeing-downtown-business-boom/78400/3Qm41xSFd0Slg1Y0SM8fFw?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I heard on twitter that they're already open.

If we had better city leadership, perhaps there would be a drive to parking garage/redevelop more of the surface parking lots downtown by now. One good parking structure off the square and some additional street parking (like Block, but pull-in rather than back-in) and the square area would have enough parking to support redeveloping more of the empty lots presently used for parking. East Ave should be redone like Block, only with pull-in parking. The reconfiguration of Block added several parking spots, and made it easier to "do" the Square area for various purposes. The street becomes a sort of "parking lot" itself. Its a good thing, IMO. Mountain could be done like that west of the square, too. All of the one-way streets downtown should get that treatment.

Well we need carwashes, too.

I'd like to see the car lots next door redeveloped into something mixed use. There is some vacant land out sort of between that area and Fiesta Square, too. Maybe being within walking distance to WF and a few restaurants without drive thrus will give a developer the idea that its a desireable location for some apts. On a related note, I noticed the other day that on Township, a car wash property is shown as "contract pending". This is directly adjacent to the Oreilly's, which will be moving to Drake before long (construction is underway). It will be interesting to see higher intensity uses along Township.

I was thinking the same. Especially at lunch with those restaurants. I thought the whole development would be larger than it looks from College Ave.

That building is amazing. What kind of people would be urging the city to condemn it? That makes no sense to me.

I noticed a realty sign on the lot at Block & Dickson, which was apparently bought by Mel Collier last year. Its a shame the city has practically made this lot undevelopable with the height restrictions they catered to the house next door.