BENTON — Three years ago, Benton Mayor David Mattingly had a vision for the city’s downtown. Thanks to a new development, the plan is taking shape.
Mattingly announced last week that construction on the Benton Farmers Market will begin in June. The pavilion will also be used as a multipurpose area to be rented for festivals and birthday parties.
“It is going to be a dynamic community-driven building,” Mattingly said.
The project should be completed by November, he said.
Mattingly is excited about the venerable downtown, as he also announced last week that tech company ACDI should finish construction of its headquarters on the site of the old Harvest Foods store. Mattingly said 80 employees will be housed in the building.
The employees won’t have to look far for lunch options, as the Main St. Station, which will open later this month down the street in an old service-station building, will feature food trucks with indoor and outdoor seating. Eventually, the business, owned by Mary Robin Harrell and Marcia Rachel, will serve craft beer.
Mattingly targeted 2017 to begin construction on the farmers market but realized there wouldn’t be enough tax money to fund the entire $400,000 project. He began calling on area businesses to establish a public/private partnership.
“The businesses in this community have been gaining sales and other things because of our progress and the businesses that have been brought here,” Mattingly said. “They are, in some regards, reaping the business growth — the growth of our community, Riverside Park, The Shoppes at Benton, Hurricane Creek Village and other development.
“So I challenged all of them to step up and form a public/private partnership. How about the business community paying for most of this instead of the taxpayers?”
Five months later, several businesses have pledged a combined $320,000 in donations. Mattingly hopes that number will eclipse the $350,000 mark later this month. Local contractors have donated most of the construction and building subcontracting.
Mattingly estimates that the city will pay only about $50,000 from its general fund.
“Instead of 80 percent being paid by government and 20 percent being public funds, I am trying to flip that over,” Mattingly said. “Eighty percent will be paid by businesses in a private way, and hopefully, the city will only have to pay around 15 percent against the whole project.”
The city is leasing the land downtown between River and South streets from John Young and his daughter Robin.
The 56-by-42-foot structure will fill most of the parcel of land, so Mattingly was concerned about parking. He didn’t want patrons to have to park on the street or park too far away.
The city leased another piece of land from Young for parking adjacent to the site, and Bill White, the owner of White Furniture, agreed to let the city use 41 parking spots across from the Central Fire Station.
“We can have 100 people down there and won’t have to have people parking on the street,” Mattingly said.
Mattingly has helped bring economic development all over the city with new shopping centers, restaurants and businesses. Now he hopes downtown will gain momentum.
“It is all about economics,” Mattingly said. “Downtown Benton is sitting in that cusp of, ‘What do you do to rejuvenate an old downtown? You can attract business, but if you don’t find a way to get more traffic, you can’t keep the same volume and grow a business. You go out onto [Military Road] or the major shopping centers, so you have to have something else.
“I would like to have retail stores with residential apartments above, but you have to start somewhere and have a product that makes people want to be there. [The farmers market] is the first step in what we need to have more renovation downtown. We, the city, have to do something to help.”