What the Razorback Foundation plans to do with 254 acres given by billionaire Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones remains a bit of a mystery.
All we know for sure about the property is that Cato Springs Road LLC, an entity affiliated with the University of Arkansas and registered with the Arkansas secretary of state's office on Dec. 10, owns it, and Jones handed it off shortly after making record of the purchase official with Washington County on Dec. 30. We also know that Jones bought the property from Chambers Bank, which his brother-in-law owns. Chambers Bank foreclosed on the previous owners in 2010.
A billionaire oilman and real estate developer buying up millions in bank-owned real estate and donating it for what will wind up being a nice tax break? It's hard to imagine a better entry into our occasional "college athletics is nothing if not a business" conversation.
At one time the acreage bought by Jones was part of a planned residential subdivision. Like so many projects around Arkansas and the United States, those plans were put on hold during the recession and only recently has nearby property been designated by the city of Fayetteville for a $20 million, 200-acre recreational park.
There are plenty of potential uses for the land, which is currently zoned for mixed-use. But universities also have more flexibility when it comes to zoning, so that doesn't necessarily tell us anything.
We probably shouldn't expect a stadium with a retractable roof like Jones' billion-dollar Cowboys Stadium to spring up there, although it isn't outside the realm of possibility that some sort of million-dollar athletic department venue will.
When UA Athletic Director Jeff Long unveiled a $327.95 million facilities master master plan in 2011, only one project was presented without a possible location. Long talked about the possibility of demolishing Barnhill Arena, a 50-year-old facility that would take $20 million to renovate. A new, 5,000-seat facility would cost around $25 million.
But it wouldn't require anywhere near 250 acres to build.
For perspective, consider the entire University of Arkansas campus sits on a little more than 400 acres in Fayetteville. Bud Walton Arena, the 19,000-seat basketball arena built for about $30 million in the early 1990s, takes up about 25 acres.
Those other, say, 230 acres?
It isn't crazy to think the Razorback Foundation has no idea what to do with it all, and is processing that it has $7 million worth of options.
Perhaps Jones bought the land and once he helped Chambers Bank get the property off its books, decided he didn't want to get into the development game in Fayetteville. Instead he saw a chance to take a tax break and help his alma mater. This transaction illustrates Jones is a shrewd businessman and loyal to family/extended family.
Does the Razorback Foundation want to get into the development game from here? Will it use the raw land to lure retail and residential developers for an extended revenue stream? Will it hold onto the property until just the right moment and generate an influx of cash in one lump sum?
Owning land in what is expected to be one of the city's growth areas is a good thing and we can say that with certainty. This will be a revenue generator of some sort and perhaps kick-start development in a part of town that not that long ago was supposed to be "the next big thing."
SundayMonday Business on 01/11/2015