Bentonville, Arkansas

[Mith242]

No, it's white eyeshadow. Pretty good fake, huh?

Sorry, couldn't help myself. Yes, it's an actual ice skating rink. Does anyone know if they're doing the outdoor movies on the square this year as well? Bentonville really does a great job of celebrating the season.

No, I thought maybe it was concrete and they hadn't put any ice in it yet. I hadn't heard any news this year about it being open yet.

Okay now that I take a closer look at the pics it does certainly look more like ice than concrete. Guess I should have looked better before I asked.

[masons_dad1]

No, it's white eyeshadow. Pretty good fake, huh?

Sorry, couldn't help myself. Yes, it's an actual ice skating rink. Does anyone know if they're doing the outdoor movies on the square this year as well? Bentonville really does a great job of celebrating the season.

Not sure about Christmas movies on the Square, but I know they played Halloween movies on the Square at Halloween time again this year.

[Julles]

No, I thought maybe it was concrete and they hadn't put any ice in it yet. I hadn't heard any news this year about it being open yet.

Okay now that I take a closer look at the pics it does certainly look more like ice than concrete. Guess I should have looked better before I asked.

Oh, I was just having fun with ya. It didn't occur to me that it might be concrete. Good point.

[Mith242]

Oh, I was just having fun with ya. It didn't occur to me that it might be concrete. Good point.

No worries.

[Julles]

Not sure about Christmas movies on the Square, but I know they played Halloween movies on the Square at Halloween time again this year.

Hmmm. Maybe that's what I was thinking of.

[mcheiss]

Not sure about Christmas movies on the Square, but I know they played Halloween movies on the Square at Halloween time again this year.

They will but it's only for three nights out of the year. Not sure on the dates though.

[hogwash]

Just to let everyone know. Bentonville's end of year population estimates place the city right on the cusp of 30K with 29,882. Its my guess Bentonville will break that mark by the end of the month or early February.

[Mith242]

Just to let everyone know. Bentonville's end of year population estimates place the city right on the cusp of 30K with 29,882. Its my guess Bentonville will break that mark by the end of the month or early February.

Thanks for the info. I wonder how much longer it will be for them to hit the 50k mark.

[mcheiss]

Thanks for the info. I wonder how much longer it will be for them to hit the 50k mark.

20 or 30 years is my guess.

[hogwash]

Who knows? A new subdivison is in the preliminary phase, Osage Hills, that will eventually have about 1200 lots, 400 in the first phase. That's almost 3,000 people and those kind of developments add up quickly, but the "slowdown" has hit pretty hard. The planning firm doing Bentonville's 25 year plan believe Bentonville will approach 65K by 2030.

Bentonville General Plan Update

[Mith242]

Who knows? A new subdivison is in the preliminary phase, Osage Hills, that will eventually have about 1200 lots, 400 in the first phase. That's almost 3,000 people and those kind of developments add up quickly, but the "slowdown" has hit pretty hard. The planning firm doing Bentonville's 25 year plan believe Bentonville will approach 65K by 2030.

Bentonville General Plan Update

I also think another question to ask is which NWA cities will 'hit the wall' first and slow down when infrastructure can't keep up with growth. Bentonville probably has some advantage at being the HQ of Wal-mart. But not all employees live in Bentonville.

[hogwash]

One thing Bentonville is shooting for is a lot of infill development and trying to use impact fee waivers and the like to encourage people to develop downtown first. Bentonville has seen so much leapfrog development with new subdivisions out in the SW part of town that is a tax on infrastructure. The fact Hwy 12 is a major growth corridor and is state maintained is going to be a problem since AHTD can never seem to get to address the problems in a timely fashion. Hopefully, they can have a similar partnership to accelerate widening when necessary.

One problem is regional waste water treatment. If Rogers hangs everybody out to dry on this issue its going to hurt Bentonville. The plant on the north side of town is pretty well taxed out.

The plan also says that 30,000 or 40,000 jobs will be created in Bentonville in the next 25 years. That is hard to fathom that happening.

[KJW]

Interesting...

I walk my dog daily on Jamaica Street in far east Bentonville...that Street was built in 2002 and is the very first street (dead end currently but not a cul-de-sac) north of the Wal-Mart/David Glass Tech Center in Bentonville.

They've been building houses there from 2003-2005 and many of them have sat vacant until this past year. They're 250,000 -300,000 range in price. Today I walked right by a lady pulling out a sign as her family had just bought one of the last of those vacant homes, and I counted how many have been built since 2003 and how many have sold.

There've been 21 built since then, with 5 of them selling fairly rapidly. The rest have sat vacant.

As of tonight there are 4 still available for purchase, never having been lived in. Nearly all of the 12 which have sold have moved in the past year.

Nice to see.

[itk]

Interesting...

I walk my dog daily on Jamaica Street in far east Bentonville...that Street was built in 2002 and is the very first street (dead end currently but not a cul-de-sac) north of the Wal-Mart/David Glass Tech Center in Bentonville.

They've been building houses there from 2003-2005 and many of them have sat vacant until this past year. They're 250,000 -300,000 range in price. Today I walked right by a lady pulling out a sign as her family had just bought one of the last of those vacant homes, and I counted how many have been built since 2003 and how many have sold.

There've been 21 built since then, with 5 of them selling fairly rapidly. The rest have sat vacant.

As of tonight there are 4 still available for purchase, never having been lived in. Nearly all of the 12 which have sold have moved in the past year.

Nice to see.

There's a reason they're vacant, and a reason they stopped building houses in that subdivision-- a freeway interchange is going to go right there. Either through their house or through their back yard. Likely in about 5 years.

I hope they know that. I have to think they do. If not, boy, that'll be a surprise for them.

[masons_dad1]

They're 250,000 -300,000 range in price.

I'm sure that was their original selling price. I'd bet they're actually selling now for a lot less than that. I wouldn't be surprised if they're getting rid of them for just under $200K. They don't really look like much anyway and were probably way overpriced which is why they weren't selling to begin with.

[Mith242]

I believe I heard the Applegate development was approved by the city of Bentonville recently.

[masons_dad1]

I believe I heard the Applegate development was approved by the city of Bentonville recently.

I haven't heard about that, but I'm sure there will be a big stink over it and it'll get delayed another year or two.

[KJW]

I'm sure that was their original selling price. I'd bet they're actually selling now for a lot less than that. I wouldn't be surprised if they're getting rid of them for just under $200K. They don't really look like much anyway and were probably way overpriced which is why they weren't selling to begin with.

MasonsDad, I wish...actually the houses were still selling in the 270,000 - 290,000 range. I love Bentonville but this town is WAY overpriced...that's why it's good to see them moving, finally.

itk, forgot that interchange is going right behind the subdivision...at least maybe they'll finally landscape that area back there...

[itk]

MasonsDad, I wish...actually the houses were still selling in the 270,000 - 290,000 range. I love Bentonville but this town is WAY overpriced...that's why it's good to see them moving, finally.

itk, forgot that interchange is going right behind the subdivision...at least maybe they'll finally landscape that area back there...

I sure as heck wouldn't buy a house there. The interchange will be elevated, meaning a ton of highway noise. They may likely have to mitigate that with landscaping, earth, noise wall, etc., but it won't eliminate all the noise for those on the south/east end. Plus, many of the homes could end up being gone.

[masons_dad1]

MasonsDad, I wish...actually the houses were still selling in the 270,000 - 290,000 range. I love Bentonville but this town is WAY overpriced...that's why it's good to see them moving, finally.

itk, forgot that interchange is going right behind the subdivision...at least maybe they'll finally landscape that area back there...

Thay may have paid that much for them, but I hope they weren't bought as an investment.

I sure as heck wouldn't buy a house there. The interchange will be elevated, meaning a ton of highway noise. They may likely have to mitigate that with landscaping, earth, noise wall, etc., but it won't eliminate all the noise for those on the south/east end. Plus, many of the homes could end up being gone.

It's hard for me to understand why people buy some of the houses that are way overpriced in this area. Surely they don't think it's a good investment.

[KJW]

Thay may have paid that much for them, but I hope they weren't bought as an investment.

It's hard for me to understand why people buy some of the houses that are way overpriced in this area. Surely they don't think it's a good investment.

Masons,

These homes, at least most of them on Jamaica St., were built in 2003 and 04...many of them were built before it was common knowledge that there was going to be an interchange there.

Besides, at least six of these families are (I)ndian, programmers families at the David Glass Tech center. They can walk just a couple of blocks to work from their houses. Closeness to their job is apparently important to them. There are other programmers as well...I've got IT managers on either side of my house.

This new interchange is going to cut right through the Glass Center parking lot.

[masons_dad1]

Masons,

These homes, at least most of them on Jamaica St., were built in 2003 and 04...many of them were built before it was common knowledge that there was going to be an interchange there.

Besides, at least six of these families are (I)ndian, programmers families at the David Glass Tech center. They can walk just a couple of blocks to work from their houses. Closeness to their job is apparently important to them. There are other programmers as well...I've got IT managers on either side of my house.

This new interchange is going to cut right through the Glass Center parking lot.

Yeah, Bentonville is swarming with IT people. I'm sure many of them are used to much worse living conditions from wherever they're from and find the area to their liking. Those homes, like most in NWA, are overpriced and may never earn much equity, especially with interchanges cutting through them. In a few more years when more lenders go under and foreclosures reach astronomical proportions in NWA new home prices may come back down to earth. NWA is growing at an unhealthy pace compared to other top growing metros, where rising home prices have a real excuse. . NWA is one of the only metros at the top of the "boomtown" list that is grossly inadequate when it comes to infrastructure and poorly controlled growth. That fact alone should dictate home prices, since job growth is such a poor factor since at any moment jobs by the thousands could be lost if a certain megalithic retailer shows poor 4th Qtr results. Which looks like will be the case with poor self-branded sales and loss of layaway sales.

But, hey all is not so droopy and dreary in Northwest Ozark Land. We still have the Crystal Bridges Museum to look forward to and all the prosperity and happiness it will bring.

[cowbreath]

This new interchange is going to cut right through the Glass Center parking lot.

It's interesting that they put their backup data center right next to the highway and now possibly have an interchange near it. It would seem to be an easy target. Of course, the main data center isn't much different except that it is slightly more protected.

[masons_dad1]

It's interesting that they put their backup data center right next to the highway and now possibly have an interchange near it. It would seem to be an easy target. Of course, the main data center isn't much different except that it is slightly more protected.

I believe one of Wal-Mart's data centers is still in the old Home Office and another one is across the state line and is underground. The David Glass building is really just Wal-Mart's "callcenter" where store operations is handled.

[cowbreath]

I believe one of Wal-Mart's data centers is still in the old Home Office and another one is across the state line and is underground. The David Glass building is really just Wal-Mart's "callcenter" where store operations is handled.

Yeah, it'll be moving soon if not already (from the home office).