OzarkSingleSpeed

Northwest Arkansas (NWA) actually has two 'Pei We Asian Diner' locations ... the restaurant in Rogers on Pauline Whitaker Parkway opened in 2015 and the location in Fayetteville on the 'University of Arkansas' campus (only the second on campus location in the USA) opened this year.

Fayetteville's 'bike-share' program is about to roll out ... The program will launch this summer and will include 290 7-speed bicycles and 50 pedal electric assist bicycles. Below is a look at the custom colors and branding with Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas graphics. Bicycles will be available around the downtown area, along city trails and on the UofA campus along with other areas throughout Fayetteville.

Interesting location ... just far enough off I-49 that it won't be seen by travelers but I guess thats ok. I wonder if the hotels off the Wedington Drive exit (Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Inn & Suites) rely upon University functions for their customer base? I've also noticed the Fairfield Inn & Suites on Van Asche Drive (across from Altitude Trampoline Park) is almost complete ... possibly trying to be open by the first football game September 1st.

As part of Arkansas Children's hospital system - Arkansas Children's Northwest ... the areas first and only children's hospital is possibly the single best amenity added to our area that will allow Northwest Arkansas to continue to grow. The 37 acre 233,000 campus provides pediatric care with state-of-the-art technology and expert care. The hospital offers impatient beds, emergency care, surgical services, diagnostic services and clinical space. The campus also includes nature trails and gardens for patients and families, as well as a helipad and refueling station for the Angel One Transport team. Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock is highly regarded as one of the best pediatric hospitals in the United States with over 500 physicians, 200 residents and 4,400 support staff.

I've drove by this interchange a few times while under construction ... the tunneled entrance-exit ramps are an interesting way to keep traffic moving.

Sounds like the dedicated access road to XNA has been put on the fast track ... now that the first segment of the interchange of I-49 and the 412-Bypass is complete (is that called Hwy-612?) it sounds like a 4 mile road that stems from the new bypass is the tentative plan.

The Cabela's store in Rogers will be converted to a 'Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Store'. The conversion will start this month and combine the Bass Pro, Cabela's, and Tracker Boats brands under one roof. They will expand the fishing department by 85%, the apparel department by 40% and add a two story glass front to highlight the boat and all-terrain vehicle business. This is the first redesign of Cabela's since Bass Pro acquired them last year.

XNA reported a solid month for June 2018 with 153,365 total passengers which is a 9.24% MTD increase / YTD up 6.17% over 2017.

Its unfortunate this forum doesn't have representation from Benton County ... probably more stuff going on in Bentonville / Rogers than the rest of the state combined! Anyway, the Bentonville area currently has several new hotel developments in the works: Westin Element / 4-story 107 room / located on South Walton Boulevard (construction almost complete) Hilton Home2Suites / 5-story 119 rooms / located on Southeast Griffin Drive (large scale development plans submitted) Marriott Creekside Courtyard / 5-story 121 rooms / located on Pinnacle Hills Promenade (under construction) And last month, Tom Walton announced plans for a new full service hotel between 100 and 200 rooms on Central Avenue. Walton was involved with bringing the 21C hotel ( https://www.21cmuseumhotels.com/bentonville/ ) to Bentonville in 2013. Hotel brand affiliation has not been announced at this point but is being labeled a 'signature amenity'. Project is in the early stages of design with groundbreaking expected in 2019.

Ozark Regional Transit plans to order 12 new transit buses with a $3.6-million federal grant awarded after last years fire destroyed 20 buses. Buses will seat between 29 and 37 people with room for 10 standing plus bicycle racks - and will be a combination of 30-ft and 35-ft buses at a cost of $350,000 each. Earlier this year ORT added 8 new buses to start replacing the destroyed fleet and the 12 new buses, expected to arrive by March 2019, will complete the replacement. Immediately after the fire last January, several metro transit services around the country were incredibly generous and instrumental in keeping Ozark Regional Transit operational by loaning or donating buses ... including: Razorback Transit of the UofA, Dallas TX Area Rapid Transit, Pittsburgh PA Port Authority, Key West FLTransit, Wichita KS Transit, Springfield MO CU Transit, Athens GA Transit, along with many other organizations who are listed on the ORT website: https://www.ozark.org/about-ort/news/225-rtr

LOL ... TRB, you seem to be enamored with Frontiers decisions! Is there any incentive for Frontier to add XNA? They most likely already pull a decent amount of discount type travelers out of this market by serving Tulsa International which is an easy 1.5hr drive from most of Northwest Arkansas. IMO, whenever XNA lands a discount carrier, it could be a Jet Blue or Spirit or other discount carrier, an airline not serving this region of the country looking to compete.

The Fayetteville Public Library expansion is about to kick off ... Demo of the old City Hospital starts next week with construction of the 70,000 sq ft expansion to start in early 2019. The expanded space will include an audio/video recording studio, virtual reality room, photography studio, simulation lab, expanded youth services area, and a 700 seat multipurpose center. Design of the expansion by Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle (MRS Design) of Minneapolis.

I believe the new space is slightly larger ... this article linked below on 'KFSM' says their current space in Evelyn Hills Shopping Center is 26,180 sq ft. Says they will close on the new property in 90 days and sounds like they have preliminary plans to open up the facade of the building that faces College Avenue along with a total remodel of the new site. I would be interested in why / who they are selling to as well ... I remember Evelyn Hills sold earlier this year to a group out of Texas so I wonder if the same investment group made a "can't refuse" offer to ONF on their current space? https://5newsonline.com/2018/07/02/ozark-natural-foods-eyeing-move-to-downtown-fayetteville/

A few weeks ago the 'Arkansas Democrat Gazette' ran an article on the terminal renovations at XNA ... in the article, they stated that enplanements at XNA have been running about double compared to forecasted projections for several years which has officials looking to the future. Terminal projects that will be required to meet passenger demand include parking decks, terminal rotunda, concourse and gate expansions, expanding security and baggage claim areas, arrival and departure lobbies, administrative space and improving access for aircraft. In 2017, enplanements were 725,284 passengers and airport officials expect more than 1.3 million passenger boardings at XNA by 2035.

Fayetteville Flyer is reporting 'Ozark Natural Foods' has alluded to moving to the 33,000 sq ft building in downtown Fayetteville that was formerly CV's Family Foods. Sounds like a win-win as their current space in under contract to be sold from what I understand. The new location seems like it will offer more space, better visibility and some separation between them and Whole Foods in North Fayetteville. https://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/2018/07/02/ozark-natural-foods-hints-at-move-to-downtown-fayetteville/

A bike-share program will be implemented by the city of Fayetteville and University of Arkansas ... VeoRide has been selected as the company to launch the program which uses a smart phone app to locate and reserve bicycles which are later returned to any bicycle rack. https://www.veoride.com

The permanent professional theater home for 'Theatre Squared' at the corner of West Avenue and Spring Street is starting to take shape ... designed by Marvel Architects and Charcoalblue - opening of the 50,00 sq ft facility is expected by mid 2019.

XNA has published airport traffic statistics for May along with the first 5 months of 2018 ... May 2018: 138,747 passengers / 5.22% increase over May 2017 January-May 2018: 583,786 passengers / 5.39% over first five months of 2017 June (and then July) is historically the highest passenger volume month for XNA so we may see the first six months of 2018 closer to a 6% increase over 2017.

As part of the Northwest Arkansas development plan, the NWA Council has identified 5 peer regions to Benchmark: Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina MSA Madison, Wisconsin MSA Des Moines - West Des Moines, Iowa MSA Austin - Round Rock, Texas MSA Raleigh, North Carolina MSA These are considered contemporary, high performing regions that compare to the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers MSA. On the council website, there is interesting data in the 'State of the Region' report providing a 3-year comparison of these MSA's in gross domestic product, employment, unemployment, establishment growth, median household income, average annual wages, poverty, educational attainment, research and development, home ownership cost, commuting time, and average domestic airfares.

Are you thinking this would potentially create light pollution in the area? Alot of the images on the 'Top Golf' website make the venues look like they glow like a light bulb - however the pic below is from the 'Top Golf' in Cincinnati and for the most part the lighting is fairly concentrated to the event venue. This article speaks to concerns residents in Louisville have about 'Top Golf' locating close to residential neighborhoods and how TG is willing to make adjustments to the lighting, etc.: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/companies/2018/06/07/topgolf-location-debate-louisville-continues/681438002/

Springdale officials announced and broke ground this week on a new 2.75 acre bike park at the Jones Center ... the park will include the Velosolutions Pump Track and Runway Skills Parkalong with a bicycle playground for kids. This October the park will host the 'Red Bull Pump Track World Championship Final'. Cycling amenities in Northwest Arkansas are abundant these days - rightfully so as were only behind Minneapolis, Vancouver and Portland in daily volume of cyclist per 1,000 population.

It does look like Fayetteville will surpass Fort Smith in the next year or two ... has anyone ever determined whether the college students factor into Fayetteville's population or not? I've heard 'yes and no' and it depends on where they claim as their 'permanent residence'. I know we are still small enough that you can tell when the students are gone for the summer or holiday breaks. In national rankings of cities with over 50,000 people, Rogers ranked as the #33 (18.7% growth rate) fastest growing city nation wide and Fayetteville ranked #63 (15.9% growth rate). However, had Bentonville qualified (they are at 49,300 residents) they would have ranked 8th nationally as its growth rate is 39.7%

Some updated information from the NWA Council on the robust growth in Northwest Arkansas .... As of May 2018, Northwest Arkansas population is now estimated at 546,000 residents - and growing by 34 people per day The MSA is officially the 104th largest, however an analysis shows the regions population exceeds #103 (Youngstown, OH) and #102 (Lancaster, PA) Northwest Arkansas growth is faster than 96 of the nations 100 top MSA's (growth rate 07/16 - 07/17) Northwest Arkansas is on pace to be a top 100 MSA in 2019 ... this matters as many national publications and researchers focus on the top 100 when they compare regions Who woulda thought 20 years ago this small easy going region in the Ozark Mountains would become a top 100 metropolitan area.

Earlier this week Hunt Ventures announced plans for a 6-story 100,000 sq ft office building and a 4-story 40,000 sq ft office building with a 6-story 27,000 sq ft parking deck in between the two office buildings. This development will be adjacent to the 10-story Hunt tower. Also In the immediate area, the $100m 'new urbanism community' expected to begin development later this year which will include 296 multi-family units, 26,000 sq ft of residential space, an upscale hotel and several restaurants. All this while 'The District Pinnacle Hills' a 54 acre commercial development continues to go up ... will eventually include a mix of retail, office, restaurant space and a boutique hotel. https://talkbusiness.net/2018/05/two-office-buildings-totaling-140000-square-feet-planned-in-pinnacle-hills/ https://talkbusiness.net/2017/09/100-million-new-urban-project-coming-to-pinnacle-hills/ With whats under construction and the planned developments and todays announcement of 'Top Golf' going in beside the AMP ... Pinnacle Hills is gonna grow up fast.

The Kohl's and Aldi space sharing is an interesting concept ... Aldi is in growth mode (plans to open 900 more stores in the US over the next 5 years) and Kohl's is testing smaller format stores (while reporting 6.3% increase in sales last quarter / stores operating at least 1 year). https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/03/01/kohls-and-aldi-going-neighbors/385933002/ So if this happened in Fayetteville it would place an Aldi's on the north side of town, in between Target and Kohl's / Petsmart. Plenty of parking available ... and lots of new residents in the immediate area at Watermark and Uptown.