What’s Happening?

October 5-11, 2015

Commercial Real Estate around Central Arkansas

By Jeff Yates
Jeff@ARKCIRE.com

The barrage of questions about what is being built along Rahling Road hasn’t slowed. Now, though, there’s a new most-popular question. Although the exact question varies, the topic is Outlets of Little Rock. If, by chance, you are just back from a year-long cruise around the world, or perhaps just moved to Little Rock, maybe you don’t know what Outlets of Little Rock is.  It is a 325,000 square foot value retail shopping center with approximately 75 merchants being built in Little Rock by New England Development alongside Bass Pro Shops at the intersection of Interstate 30 and Interstate 430. As part of the Gateway Town Center property, this new outlet mall has been mentioned in this column before. Gateway Town Center is located at the northwest corner of this highway intersection, and the project involved the clearing of considerably more acreage than the Rahling Road project, yet generated very few comments regarding deforestation. Outlets of Little Rock opens Oct. 16. Come on out and see what shops are opening there. I’m hopeful that the periphery property develops grandly and that the whole intersection becomes a regional destination for shopping and more.

In the “and more” department, let’s talk about the return home of a venue conceived from drinking and playing in downtown Little Rock way back in the ‘80s. It is not “done” as in completed construction and open building, but it is, however, a “done deal” as in the land has changed hands for a tidy sum.  Dave & Busters has purchased a 5.4 acre tract from Town Center LLC and paid $2,353,000 for it. The “old math” calculation of that is approximately $10 psf or just a little under $434,000 per acre. The talk I hear is that construction can be expected to start in the near future. It is reasonable to expect that sometime in 2016 Dave & Busters will join Bass Pro Shops, Outlets of Little Rock, and many business businesses at the Gateway Town Center party that Tommy Hodges worked for so many years to organize.

North near where Interstate 30 meets Interstate 40 there’s been a flurry of sales. Well, it’s not exactly where I-30 meets I-40. It’s really where AR Hwy. 107 crosses I-40 and heads up the hill to become John F. Kennedy Blvd. It’s close enough to I-30 to tie this article together with the activity on I-30 to the south, though. I have to thank the contractor that called me and asked if I knew who bought one of these. That one inquiry led to me nosing around and finding many within a block or two of the one.  

This flurry of sales seems to be coincidental in timing. The efforts of many in North Little Rock have been deliberate, though, in revitalizing the area. The sales are located along Pershing Boulevard. There may be more coordination to these sales than meets the eye. If you happen to know that the several pieces fit together to form a bigger picture, drop me a line. I’ll follow up with a synopsis in a future column. The sales along Pershing include the Royal Buffett building at 109 E. Pershing and the building with Moose Cleaners at 105 E. Pershing. Moving west, it appears that one, only one, of the two lots that comprise the buildings of the Budgetel at 111 W. Pershing and 115 W. Pershing was purchased. A replat set a lot line for the sale of Lot 2 of the Pershing Motel Addition in the amount of $800,000. Just west of that, the Clarion Hotel comprises 3 parcels and sold for an aggregate value of $2,850,000. There may be some redevelopment forthcoming along that portion of I-40.

Evelyn and I go to The Home Depot pretty often. (Isn’t it great when your seven-year-old points out you forgot to say “The”?) We’ve been there several times since the last column. Not only do we have several projects going around the house, it never fails that not all of the correct materials are ever purchased in only one trip. Plus we ran out of birdseed. In all the driving back-and-forth to The Home Depot we noticed a new restaurant building is underway at 12200 West Markham. The owner of the property is Rowan Development. Rowan is a company of the Chi family members who lives in Little Rock. The Chi family was announced months ago, around the start of 2015, as the Arkansas franchisee for La Madeleine, a country French café. I’m sure someone will let me know if I’ve connected the dots incorrectly.

The former post office at 11619 Pleasant Ridge Road sold last month to an entity by the name of MVS Real Estate – Little Rock LLC. The address for the new owner matches the address for Memphis Veterinary Specialists. Their website says they service the communities of Memphis, Little Rock, Jonesboro, Jackson, Starkville, and more. What was the sale price you ask? The sale was for $1,750,000 and included a building of 8,640 square feet and about 1.49 acres of land.

In the coming-soon department, the Little Rock Planning Commission approved a Conditional Use Permit for a retail pharmacy (not Walgreen’s) on 1.73 acres at the hard corner of S. University and 12th Street. It was passed on the Planning Commission’s Consent Ajgenda with no discussion or dissension at the public hearing. Some of you may recall this corner being considered for a convenience store a while back. The convenience store didn’t fare nearly as well with city approvals. It will be good to see some progress with this fallow property.