Business Development

VA Hospital in Fayetteville to Fill 100 Jobs (April, 2012)

The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks will hire 100 workers to support the soon-to-be completed 144,000 SF addition on its College Avenue campus in Fayetteville.  The System is currently recruiting half of the available positions.  The remaining jobs will be announced this summer with hiring completed in the fall.  Construction is expected to be completed in the fall.  The VA is hiring nurses, medical technologists, housekeepers, mechanics, and carpenters to staff outpatient services at the new building.  The $93 million facility will offer pharmacy, optometry, orthopedics, and gastroenterology services, among others.  The VA in NWA employs about 1,200 people to serve veterans in 23 counties in NWA, southwest Missouri, and eastern Oklahoma.

Mattress Firm Occupies Former Circuit City (April 2012)

Mattress Firm opened a store at 744 E Joyce Blvd in the former Circuit City building.  The 20,716 SF building is home to the mattress company's fourth Arkansas store with two in Little Rock and one in Bryant.  Mattress Firm has more than 700 stores in 23 states.  Mattress Firm stores feature more than 55 different models of mattresses from manufacturers such as Sealy, Simmons, and Tempur-Pedic.  An investment group from Atlanta purchased the building last June.

Team from Walton College of Business Won First Place (April 2012)

Students from Sam M Walton College of Business won first place in the Intermodal Association of North America Logistics and Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Case Competition.  Amanda Hancock, Alexander Marshall, Kristie Spielmaker and Sam Stevenson were accompanied by Christian Hofer, faculty sponsor.  There were seven other collegiate teams.  Teams had 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes to answer judges' questions.

City Planning Commission OKs Student Housing Complex (March, 2012)

City Planning Commission approved a 180-unit hilltop development geared towards the U of A's growing student population.  The Vue will be a 656-bedroom complex to be built on Paris Avenue south of MLK Blvd overlooking the Fayetteville High School.  The developer is Houston-based Park Green Properties.  Park Green Properties is partnering with New Jersey-based University Student Living.  Construction is expectetd to begin between May and June 2012 and will take about a year to complete.  The two- and four-bedroom apartments will be ready for occupancy in August 2013.  The development will be a combination of five-story podium building with parking underneath and three-story townhomes.  The site is 19 acre in size.

Liberty Bank Groundbreaking (March, 2012)

Liberty Bank had its groundbreaking ceremony in Fayetteville recently for a two-story, 22,000 SF flagship building near the intersection of Joyce Blvd and Vantage Dr.  The new bank will be the largest of the Liberty Banks in the state and will house the region's administration, mortgage loan department and operations, and provide customer service for accounts, loans, investments and insurance needs.  Construction is expected to be completed by November 2013.  Howard R. Hamilton, the northwest regional president and chief operating officer, said the new center shows the bank's commitment to its customers in northwest Arkansas.  Liberty Bank has 45 centers throughout Arkansas, including 10 locations in Northwest Arkansas. and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Bancshares Inc. with assets in excess of $2.8 billion.  The new center will employ 35 people. 

Arvest Bank of Fayetteville Applies to Relocate Branch in Fayetteville (March, 2012)

Arvest Bank of Fayetteville has filed applications with state regulators for permission to relocate its existing branch to a new location.  The Green Acres branch at Poplar and College Ave in Fayetteville will be relocated to College and Township.  Construction is tentatively scheduled to start middle of 2012 for completion sometime in 2013. 

Hotel Changed Hands (March, 2012)

Nitesh Gandhi, president of Manav Investor of NW Arkansas Inc. is now the new owner of an 83-room hotel in Fayetteville.  Gandhi paid $1.4 million for the Fayetteville Super 8 at 1075 S Shiloh Dr.  The seller was Supertel LP of Virginia, formerly Humphrey Hospitality LP.  The 1.44 acre development and building, constructed in 1993, appraised for $1.57 million in 2011.

Area Agency on Aging Breaks Ground (March, 2012)

Area Agency on Aging broke ground on a new location in Fayetteville.  The new 4,980 SF office building to be constructed for $557,760 is located at 4332 N Waterside Court.  The new branch office, expected to be completed in July 2012, will house 10-12 staff members.  It will replace the agency's current office building, a 2,360 SF space located at 2325 Green Acres Rd.  Area Agency on Aging Northwest Arkansas Inc. acquired the land from Zion Holdings LLC in June 2011 for $185,000.

Academy Sports + Outdoors Coming Soon to Fayetteville (March, 2012)

Academy Sports + Outdoors could soon has its second store in northwest Arkansas.  The sporting goods retailer has recently signed a letter of intent with developer Brent Mann of Houston's Vista Private Equity Group.  Mann has a deal under contract to buy about 9 acres of land next door to Razorback Cinema in the Steele Creek area of uptown Fayetteville.  If everything is in place, Mann's group will build the building and Academy will rent it from them.  Academy currently has a store in Rogers, north of Fayetteville.

Block Avenue Buy (March, 2012)

Sam Mathias, through his Mathias Properties Inc., recently bought a 2,705 SF office building in downtown Fayetteville.  Mathias paid $425,000 to Woodland Enterprises LLC for the building at 115 N Block Ave.  The building is a one-story building built in 1970.  It was last appraised in 2010 for $312,700.

US News & World Report Ranks Washington Regional Medical Center Among the Nation's Top Regional Hospitals (March, 2012)

The US News and World Report recently recognized Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville as among the nation's best regional hospitals.  Two hundred and forty seven hospitals were selected by the magazine's editors for excellence in providing care to communities that are outside major metropolitan areas.  According to the report, hospitals like Washington Regional Medical Center offers a high level of medical care to communities that otherwise might have limited options, and that they are fully capable of providing first-rate care.  US News & World Report annually evaluates nearly 5,000 hospitals in 16 differrent medical specialties, using factors such as death rates, patient safety, procedure volume and other objective data.  It also considers physicians' responses to a national survey where they are asked to name hospitals they consider best in their specialty for the toughest cases.  In addition to this recognition, Washington Regional Medical Center was also named one of the nation's most-connected hospitals for achieving an advanced level of electronic medical record adoption.  Washington Regional is the only community-owned, locally governed, not-for-profit hospital in the area.

New Bar Coming To Dickson Street (March, 2012)

The former Flying Possum site on Dickson Street will soon open as a Razorbacks-themed bar later this year.  Sarah Varga, owner of Sideways and Ryleigh's on Dickson Street, and her husband, Christopher, signed a lease with the building's owner, the Pearson Family Trust, earlier this year.  The couple plans to have the bar open for business this summer after renovation is completed.  Sarah and her husband will overhaul the entire 1,647 SF building at 526 W Dickson. 
Bruce Walker, known for his patented leather guitar straps and laid-back attitude, ran Flying Possum for 35 years before dying in a fire that heavily damaged the building on March 7, 2011.

UA Students Win Business Contest (March, 2012)

A team of graduate students from the University of Arkansas College of Business won first place in a business plan competition recently.  The event sponsors were the University of Louisville and Brown-Forman Corp.  Both organizations are located in Louisville, Ky.  Twelve school-sponsored teams competed in the event held Feb. 17th and 18th.  The winning team, SpatiaLink Solutions, won $15,000 and entry in another business plan competition in Austin.  SpatiaLink Solutions' winning idea is a retailing product that seeks to limit the amount of sales lost because of out-of-stock items.  Members of SpatiaLink's team are John Miller, Aaron Huffaker, Steve Fortner, Bethany Haefner and Nate Allen. 
Carol Reeves, an associate vice provost for enterpreneurship and management professor at the UA, mentored the award-winning team.  Since 2002, Reeves has advised 14 national, first-place winning teams, garnering $1.25 million in cash prizes.

cycleWood Solutions Selected as Finalist (February, 2012)

Cyclewood Solutions recently was selected as one of four finalists for the Association of University Technology Managers 2012 Venture Forum Business Plan Competition.  The company now will compete March 16th in Anaheim, CA.  A startup company, it offers a sustainable alternative to the single-use plastic bag.  Its product is called a XyloBag and it is biodegradable.  XyloBags are made from organic material that breaks down into humus in 150 days.  According to the company,  these bags can be made for as little as .15 cents each compared to conventional plastic bags that cost about 1.2 cents each.  cycleWood Solution founders are Nhiem Cao, Kevin Oden, Priscilla Silva and Jack Avery.  In addition to being a finalist for this competition, the company also was the south central region winner for the CleanTech Open in Austin, TX.  The CleanTech Open is a competition for clean technology startup companies that address energy, environmental and economic challenges.

Startup Company Wins Plan Award (February, 2012)

A team of University of Arkansas students won the top prize at a Canada's premier graduate student business plan competition.  The company created a plan that improves retention and success rate of adults preparing for the General Education Development test.  The Learning DifferentiatED team was led by president and chief executive officer, Barry James, Brandon Hill, Senthil Raman, Brandon Wright, Murali Natarajah and Chris Cambridge.  Barry James is a doctoral candidate in the microelectronics-photonics program.  The company took the first place at the IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition.  The University of Arkansas was one of 50 graduate schools in the US and Canada that took part in the competition.  Finalists were invited to make their presentations at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.  The university team won $20,000 for its first place finish and an automatic berth in the Venture Labs Investment Competition at the University of Texas where the team will compete for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes. 

Fayetteville's Mail Processing Center to Stay (February, 2012)

The US Postal Services announced it will keep Fayetteville's mail processing center open and move some postal operations from Fort Smith and Harrison to this center.  The move could possibly expand the number of postal jobs at the Fayetteville center.  According to an agency study, six positions from the Harrison center and 35 positions from the Fort Smith facility will move to Fayetteville.  The Fayetteville center in December last year was targeted to close and consolidate with a Little Rock facility. 

UA To Buy Buildings (February, 2012)

The University of Arkansas will spend $6 million to purchase two buildings in north Fayetteville that would provide space for employees who either have been displaced by campus construction or whose jobs do not have to be on campus.  The property is located at 1001 and 1083 E. Sain St. and consists of 9.34 acres.  The property was formally owned by AW Realty, a subsidiary of Southwestern Energy, a Houston-based oil and natural gas producer.  The office complex and its acreage is 4.5 miles north of the UA campus.  The two buildings together have a total of 58,693 SF.
 
3 Monkeys Moving Back To Fayetteville (January, 2012)

3 Monkeys Children's Boutique, a retailer, is moving back to Fayetteville from Rogers after three years.  Owner Amanda Hunt recently bought the former El Chico at 3854 Front St. in Fayetteville fir $510,000.  The building has a 6,000 SF space and the owner hopes to have the store open in February.  The retailer has a loyal client base in both counties but ultimately favored the Fayetteville location.  

UA Epley Center for Health Professions Opens (January, 2012)

The $10.84 million Epley Center for Health Professions opened earlier this month on the northwest corner of the UA Fayetteville campus.  The Epley Center houses the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing and the communication disorders program, which operates the UA Speech and Hearing Clinic.  The 19,700 SF former student health center building was renovated and another 24,300 SF of new space was added on.  The building is named for Lewis Epley, a longtime donor to the university and a former UA System trustee, and his wife, Donna.  The Center has two classrooms that each seat 50, a 60-seat computer lab, two student lounges, a faculty lounge, break area, and large meeting rooms.  The school has 240 students enrolled this fall.  Another 654 students identified themselves as pre-nursing students.

Commission Approves Apartments (January, 2012)

Fayetteville's Planning Commission gave approval to the second of two large-scale development requests from a team of Springdale developers.  The projects will add more than 1,200 bedrooms in downtown Fayetteville.  Eco Downtown, a 250-unit apartment complex, would be located south of Lafayette Street between West and Campbell Avenues.  Currently, the property has an activity center and a parking lot for the University Baptist Church.  Both Eco Downtown and 555 Maple, a similar development, are intended to provide pedestrian-friendly living options for people seeking the urban experience, according to Seth Mims, a partner with MC3 Multifamily, the developer.  The 183-unit 555 Maple project is located northwest of Eco Downtown where there are two rental properties, a boarded-up church and the Maple Street Apartments are located. 

Tyson Adds Jobs At Plant (January, 2012)

Tyson Foods announced the creation of 60 new manufacturing jobs for its Mexican Original tortilla plant expansion.  The plant expects to open two new lines by the end of the month.  The plant's 500 workers produce tortillas and chips for quick service Mexican food chains such as Taco Bell.  The expansion cost an estimated $7 million and it included renovation of 120,000 SF space with new equipment installation, according to Tyson.  The new jobs will pay between $11 and $12 an hour with benefits such as health insurance, paid holidays and retirement plans. 

Company To Lease Airport Space (January, 2012)

Darryl Riddell, a south-east Arkansas businessman, is leasing the largest hangar in Fayetteville Executive Airport.  The roughly 17,000 SF building is currently vacant. Riddell who owns South Delta Aviation in Helena-West Helena plans to move the bulk of his aircraft sales operation to Fayetteville to be closer to his two grown children.  His company buys, repairs, and sells aircraft.  He would likely hire 2-3 employees and may expand his business in Fayetteville.  The lease will be $3,000 per month for two years and is effective June 1.  The Airport still has one large hangar and four smaller T-Hangars available for lease.

Super 8 Changes Hands (January, 2012)

Manav Investors of Northwest Arkansas recently bought Super 8 in Fayetteville.  Kalpesh Gandhi bought the motel from Supertel Hospitality.  Mumford Company of Newport News, VA, brokered the sale.  The motel has 83 rooms and is at the intersection of I-540 and US 62.  Gandhi owns several hotels throughout Arkansas and Oklahoma.  Local bank financing was used to facilitate the transaction.  Gandhi will retain the Super 8 franchise after cosmetic renovations.