ROGERS -- The bet that helped make this city a regional center for shopping and food turns 10 today.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of Pinnacle Hills Promenade, a shopping center with around 100 stores and restaurants spread over 1 million square feet and an anchor of a now bustling stretch of Interstate 49 in southern Rogers. The Walmart AMP, Mercy Northwest Arkansas and the John Q. Hammons Center all stand less than a mile away.
"The Promenade definitely put Rogers on the map as the retail destination for Northwest Arkansas," said Steve Cox, senior vice president of economic development for the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce. "No one had put anything of a size like that in our community before."
The area includes large retailers like Cabela's and Target, a Malco movie theater and other specialty stores arranged around an outdoor plaza lined with trees. Jennifer Martinez of Rogers sat on the edge of the entrance fountain with her sister and toddler nephew Monday enjoying the mild and breezy afternoon.
"Just the atmosphere," Martinez said, explaining why they chose the Promenade to shop for her nephew. Stores aimed at all age groups also conveniently huddle together at the center, so if her nephew's patience lasts, "we'll go shopping for us," she added with a laugh.
Local investors including Bill Schwyhart, the late J.B. Hunt and former J.B. Hunt Transport Services vice president Tim Graham joined together in a group now called Hunt Ventures to get the project rolling in the early 2000s. They partnered with Chicago-based General Growth Properties to transform a cow pasture into today's commercial and office complex.
"It's the right place, the right time," said John George, Hunt Ventures spokesman. "Mr. Hunt had a vision for where Northwest Arkansas was going, and he was right on. The legacy of what he and a few others started back in 1999, 2000 is that they were right."
Echoing a story familiar throughout Northwest Arkansas, George said the growth of Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods and the tide of national and international vendors and employees who followed them help sustain the Promenade even through the Great Recession.
"You don't have those wild swings that some markets have," said David Faulkner, the Promenade's general manager, who moved to the area for the job and recalled living in a double-wide mobile home near construction before the opening. "We've been 90 percent (full) at least or better since we've been open."
The convention center was built around the same time on the other side of the Interstate, and Embassy Suites and Hunt Tower were already around, said Steve Glass, Rogers senior engineer and city planner. The Promenade brought that kind of development across the interstate, he said, calling the Promenade "Stage 2 of the rocket."
The center's benefits have been oversold at times. In 2006, then-Mayor Steve Womack said the city's sales tax revenue could jump by millions after the project, though he added the city's budget would rely on much more conservative forecasts.
Sales tax revenue in 2007, the first full year to see Promenade revenue, actually rose by about $1 million from the year before to reach around $11.3 million, according to data from the city's finance department. The increase was about 10 percent, but slower than the two previous years.
The Promenade's specific impact on city revenue isn't tracked, Cox said. Other economic trends, openings and closures all play a role in the final totals, and some shops at the Promenade simply moved from other parts of the city instead of opening up another location. George referred a question about the Promenade's annual sales to the Rogers-Lowell chamber, which referred the question to the city.
Monthly data gives some clues. Revenue from the first open month, October 2006, would be collected the following December, and December 2006 collections jumped $167,000, or 21 percent, from December 2005.
Still, the Promenade's impact can also be measured in its visits and reputation as a go-to shopping spot. Brenda Majors, former marketing manager for General Growth Properties, in 2012 said foot traffic was projected to reach more than 10 million visits that year. George again pointed to the chamber for a more recent count, but Cox said the chamber didn't have one.
"I'm not sure if I see a horizon out there yet, but I do see a lot more growth still to come in the next three to five years," George said of the Pinnacle Hills area. "We've been very fortunate."
NW News on 10/04/2016