BENTON — A new shopping center is on the horizon for the Interstate 30 corridor in Benton.
Benton Mayor David Mattingly announced plans for the new retail center Tuesday during a news conference in the Benton City Council chambers.
Called The Shoppes of Benton, the 160,000-square-foot shopping center will be developed by GBT Realty Corp. of Brentwood, Tennessee, on approximately 23 acres off I-30 at Exit 21, or Alcoa Road. The shopping center will have access from both the I-30 service road and Arkansas 5.
Although no tenants were named, officials did say two of the anchors of the $29 million project include a 41,000-square-foot soft-goods and home-furnishings store and a 55,000-square-foot hobby and craft store. Plans also call for four outlying parcels that will house fast, casual, sit-down-dining restaurants.
Mattingly was joined at the news conference by GBT Realty officials Thom Hickman, senior vice president of development and acquisitions, and Jeff Pape, managing director of the shopping center division.
Names of possible retailers bandied about by those in the audience at the news conference included T.J. Maxx and Hobby Lobby, which would appear to fit the generic descriptions of the two unnamed tenants.
“We can neither confirm nor deny,” Hickman said, referring to those two retailers.
Pape said the company has just finished projects in Louisville, Kentucky, and Savannah, Georgia. Information on the GBT website gbtrealty.com shows the shopping center in Louisville houses Hobby Lobby, Ross Dress for Less and Rack Room Shoes, among others, and the center near Savannah houses T.J. Maxx, Ross Dress for Less, Michael’s and PetSmart, among others.
Mattingly said he and others in city government had been negotiating with GBT Realty since May. He said the development company “approached us about a partnership, asking us, ‘What can you do to help us?’
“I met with every City Council member and the Public Utilities Commission about a public/private partnership. We decided the city would be willing to bring the utilities to the site.”
The Benton City Council met Monday and approved Resolution No. 45 of 2015 and issued a Memorandum of Understanding, whereby the city, along with the Benton Public Utilities Commission, will provide up to $1.4 million from its general fund to extend utilities — sewer, water and power — and infrastructure to the site.
Mattingly said the city’s costs are expected to be recouped within a year to 14 or 15 months after the shopping center opens, coming in the form of sales taxes paid to the city.
“If you don’t do this, then you go back [to the community] and ask for more taxes,” Mattingly said, adding that he is not willing to do that or to issue bonds for the project. “If you do that, you are taxing yourself out of business.”
Hickman said GBT hopes to start construction on the project during the first quarter of 2016 and open, hopefully, by the first quarter of 2017.
“We won’t break ground if we are not already significantly leased,” Pape said. “We won’t build a bunch of buildings and hope they fill up.”
Pape said he foresees 450 to 500 part-time construction jobs. Once the shopping center opens, he estimates 200 full-time and 300-plus part-time job opportunities.
“This will provide a rich mixture of job opportunities,” Pape said. “These will be all national retailers, people with successful track records. It will also provide opportunity for local retailers.”
Pape said one of GBT’s retailers “had been looking at Benton and came to us” with the idea of developing a shopping center.
“We have a good relationship with our retailers,” Pape said. “They asked, ‘Have you ever looked at Benton, Arkansas?’
“Thom was there the next day,” Pape said with a laugh.
Mattingly said Hank Kelley of Flake and Kelley Commercial of Little Rock helped
facilitate the deal. Mattingly also credited Brad Jordan, the city’s economic-development director, and members of the Benton Public Utilities Commission and the Benton Utilities Department for their efforts in securing the deal.
GBT Realty Corp. has been in business since 1987 and operates in 21 states. Hickman said the company has “developed 6 million square feet over the last eight years.”