BUSINESS MATTERS

Rogers road projects drive commercial development surge

Drive around the Northwest Arkansas city of Rogers these days and two things will likely jump out at you.

There is no shortage of road construction. Nor is there a shortage of commercial real estate development.

These two things aren't unrelated.

Currently there are nine road projects ongoing in the city of 60,000-plus that are being funded by money from a 2011 bond election. Those expansion and improvement projects are helping make growth easier and spurring commercial development, particularly in the southwest part of Rogers where Pleasant Grove Road and Pinnacle Hills Parkway are being extended, along with Bellview Road.

For a snapshot of the development happening along Interstate 49, consider the work being done by Colliers International's Northwest Arkansas office. Their fingerprints are on tens of thousands of square feet and millions in commercial development on a 3-mile stretch along both sides of Interstate 49.

Visible from the gates of Pinnacle Country Club, just off the Pauline Whitaker Parkway roundabout, is a three-phase project known as the Country Club Plaza Development. Little Rock investors (previously identified as the LaFrance Family) are heavily involved in the office and retail projects being put together by Colliers.

Included in the Country Club Plaza Development is a three-story, 90,000-square-foot office building scheduled for completion this spring. It is already 50 percent leased. The development will house Colliers and a retail supplier. The other half of the Class A office space is being billed as ideal for another supplier type or perhaps a large legal firm.

Also included in the Country Club Plaza project are 22,000 square feet of retail space that will include a national restaurant chain. Negotiations are ongoing with a pair of local clothing boutiques that would anchor the space.

Like the office park, the retail space is scheduled for completion in spring 2016.

Closest to Pinnacle Country Club is land being marketed as an office location. A selling point is the land's proximity to about 2 million already developed square feet of retail and office space.

Just down the road at Pleasant Crossing are tens of thousands of feet of retail space in which Colliers represented the tenants. A retail center will likely include a national shoe store chain in about 6,000 square feet and 22,000 square feet that would be ideal for a national clothing chain.

Nearby is a shopping center with Mattress Firm, The Grove restaurant, Moe's Southwest Grill, Supercuts and Papa Murphy's pizza. Those tenants are all up and running near an area that first began booming before the recession.

The Colliers International projects are all in various stages of completion.

Then there is the entirely blank canvas known as Mills Farm.

More than 200 acres near the southwest corner of Interstate 49 and Pleasant Grove Road are now on the market. That land -- Colliers International notes that it is the largest single piece of real estate with access to an interstate interchange available in Northwest Arkansas -- will soon have for sale signs on it.

Options abound for how to use the land.

It might be ideal for heavy commercial use on the interstate like large shopping centers or a corporate headquarters. Farther away from I-49, the land could house multiple types of residential developments.

If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (479) 365-2972 or email him at cbahn@nwaonline.com

SundayMonday Business on 10/04/2015

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