Centerton Mayor Bill Edwards spends every week writing letters.
Edwards writes letters to promote his rapidly growing city to national business chains and ultimately provide a wide variety of business services to city residents.
Fun fact
In 2016, Centerton ranked No. 3 in the nation for suburban places to live, according to realtormag.realtor.….
"I've sent out 12 or 13 (so far)," Edwards said. "My goal is to write five of these a week."
Edwards has sent letters to chain restaurants such as Burger King, Wendy's, Popeyes, Whataburger and Chick-fil-A during the past month.
"I just keep trying to sell Centerton," he said. "Someone will bite."
In his letter, Edwards emphasizes Centerton is the home of the soon-to-open West High School, which he describes as the fifth-largest high school in the state, and the city is growing by 800-1,000 residents each year. Centerton is just west of Bentonville.
"We are in need of restaurants and services like yours to provide additional choices for our community," he writes in the letter. "Currently, we have few restaurants and I feel our community with an estimated population of 13,000 could support an establishment such as yours."
Centerton's population grew from 9,526 to 11,193 between April 2010 and July 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Centerton has a McDonald's, Sonic, Subway, Jim's Razorback Pizza, two Mexican restaurants, a barbecue restaurant and a Chinese food trailer. The city also has a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market and Harps.
Wal-Mart owns a 40-acre section of property behind McDonald's and was supposed to build a supercenter, but development is in limbo, Edwards said.
"They own the property, we have plans and we're just waiting for them to give us a start date," he said. "Whether that start date is this year or next year, we don't know."
It has been about six months since he last spoke with a Wal-Mart representative about the potential supercenter, Edwards said.
"I believe they're still coming," he said. "They said they just haven't decided to build it yet."
Anne Hatfield, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Public Affairs, said in an email Friday she had no update about a supercenter being built in Centerton.
A Starbucks is being built at East Centerton Boulevard and Greenhouse Road as part of a five-space retail center, Edwards said. The center's owner is in negotiations with other businesses to fill the other spaces, Edwards said.
Mathias Shopping Centers owns the center. Arthur Thurman, president and chief operating officer of Mathias, said the center will be 12,000 square feet.
Aside from the coffee shop, which Thurman could not confirm as being a Starbucks, two other businesses are in negotiations to operate in the center. Thurman said he could not yet discuss the names of those businesses.
Centerton is an ideal city for a retail center, Thurman said.
"We think with the new high school coming (and) the population growth, there will be a need for small retail centers," Thurman said. "Northwest Arkansas as a whole is growing, but the Bentonville area is growing faster."
Locations along Centerton Boulevard have seen ample interest from potential business investors, said Lorene Burns, planning director.
Two development plans -- one a screen printing business on the corner of North D Street and West Centerton Boulevard and the other a commercial building called Centerton Plaza on East Centerton Boulevard -- are up for approval at Tuesday's Planning Commission meeting, Burns said.
The plan submitted for Centerton Plaza is for one building, but there is enough open area for a second building, Burns said.
Flake & Kelley Commercial Real Estate, which is headquartered in Little Rock and has an office in Springdale, is developing Centerton Plaza. Jordan Jeter with Flake & Kelley said affordable living makes Centerton a place with great growth potential.
"You can buy a home in Centerton brand new for $100 to 125 a foot," Jeter said. "It's basically Bentonville -- it's very easy to get to. It's a straight shot. The accessibility is good. There's a ton of Wal-Mart employees who live out there because it's affordable and it's close."
The median listing price for Bentonville homes is $293,000. The median closing price is $212,000, according to www.realtor.com. The website lists Centerton as having a median listing price of $199,000 with a median closing price of $157,000.
The development of high-end subdivisions in Centerton is catching the attention of homebuyers, said Larry Horton, who has owned Bentonville Real Estate for four years and has been a real estate agent for 29 years.
"You get more house for your money in Centerton than you do in Bentonville because the price is lower, (and) it's not too far away from Bentonville," Horton said. "Centerton being a growing community with a little more of a small-town atmosphere makes it more attractive to buyers that are coming in to work for Wal-Mart or one of their suppliers or support teams."
There will be a need for local businesses with the growing housing market, Jeter said.
"When you get that big, you start to need your own grocery stores and your own restaurants," he said. "Now that you got the brand new high school out there, there needs to be more (business) growth."
There are several businesses in different phases of development in Centerton, with multiple developments under construction, including a nursing home, a retail center and a dental clinic, according to a city planning project status report.
Edwards is particularly excited about the Ravington Event Center, a 7,100-square-foot building with a 2,800-square-foot courtyard at 293 N. Main St. Built in 1909, it has been renovated into a venue for events such as weddings, fundraisers and corporate receptions.
"This is going to change our downtown," Edwards said. "It's going to bring more people here."
The Ravington held its grand opening May 12 and will host its first wedding Sunday. Amber Gustafson, who co-owns The Ravington with her husband, Eric, said the grand opening was a success with about 300 people attending the event that featured top Northwest Arkansas caterers and a variety of live entertainment.
"We're giving it an eclectic twist by bringing in a lot of gorgeous modern style," she said of the Ravington.
Gustafson already has bookings into fall 2017, with mostly weddings on the schedule and some corporate and nonprofit events. She said she hopes the Ravington can be used as part of the Bentonville Film Festival next year.
Business growth is necessary to meet the needs of the city's growing population. There are 15 subdivisions in different phases of development with seven under construction, Edwards said.
"Over by the high school, there's 600 new lots coming that are either in the process of going through planning or have been through planning," Edwards said. "The one thing we really need for our people here is services. We have plenty of rooftops."
Edwards' strategy of reaching out to national chains is a traditional one, said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
"Bedroom communities might not have retail centers that generate sales tax for them, so those communities spend a lot of time making sure they're on the radar for business location decision-makers," Deck said. "They want to make sure they market, that national chains know what their population looks like, what their demographics look like and how much income is in the community. Those are the things national chains look at."
Service and business growth will not be instantaneous even though Centerton has steady population growth, Deck said.
"As population density increases there are more and more opportunities for all kinds of retail and services," she said. "Once you have some of those business establishments generating tax revenues, the community can reinvest in its infrastructure, which makes it a more attractive place for additional population and businesses."
Cities like Centerton are most successful when courting businesses that serve the needs of local community members, such as restaurants and dry cleaners. After substantial growth, such a city can attract larger-scale businesses, such as malls, that serve local customers and attract consumers from other areas and regions, Deck said.
"They evolve," she said. "That happens as population grows, connectivity increases, and density and income increases."
NW News on 05/23/2016