A University of Arkansas System trustees committee on Wednesday approved a $13.6 million land-purchase agreement for approximately 31.2 acres near Interstate 49 in Springdale, to be used as the site for a new orthopedic and sports medicine center.
In March, the full board of trustees approved construction of a 185,000-square-foot University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences orthopedic facility, with some trustees describing the $85 million project as helpful in signing Razorback athletes.
The land-purchase location, just south of Arkansas Children's Northwest Hospital, is roughly 7 miles north of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville campus and in an area described by UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson on Wednesday as becoming a "medical corridor" for the region. The pediatric hospital opened in 2018.
UA-Fayetteville in March announced an agreement for UAMS to provide daily medical coverage to the more than 465 athletes in the athletic program. At a March board meeting, Steve Cox, a trustee and Jonesboro businessman, called the planned orthopedic facility "a great recruiting tool for athletes that we're recruiting."
The land purchase was approved Wednesday by the Building and Grounds Committee of the University of Arkansas System board of trustees. Trustee Ed Fryar, a poultry entrepreneur from Rogers, recused himself before the vote on the land deal. Committee members voted unanimously in favor of the purchase.
Before the vote, a UAMS official told trustees that more expansion by the university is planned for the region.
"We are going to be bringing to the board at a future meeting additional leases in the Northwest Arkansas area for our research platform and also for our behavioral health clinical outreach," Christina Clark, UAMS vice chancellor for institutional support services and chief operating officer, said Wednesday.
UAMS has its main campus in Little Rock and in 2007 opened its UAMS Northwest regional site in Fayetteville. Earlier this year, trustees approved the creation of a three-year medical degree program based in Fayetteville.
Clark on Wednesday said that "we do not have enough space" on the Fayetteville campus, responding to a question from Trustee Ted Dickey about the land deal. Dickey, a real estate fund manager, described the size of the purchase as "more land than we need" for the orthopedic site.
In January, UAMS considered having third parties involved in the construction of the orthopedic center and then entering into a lease agreement.
Those discussions "ended up falling apart," Clark said in a phone interview Wednesday, but the chosen site is the same as that identified earlier.
She said a private investment firm involved in the earlier talks, Little Rock-based Natural Capital, "had the property assigned to them from the owners." The owner as stated on deed records is Claypool Farm LLC.
Clark said that assignment of land now moves from Natural Capital to UAMS with the deal approved by the committee Wednesday. Natural Capital will be paid approximately $26,000 to cover its costs in exchange for UAMS getting its interest in the contract.
"We will be buying it directly from Claypool farms, and Natural Capital is out of the deal," Clark said, adding that the approximately $13.6 million purchase price was negotiated by UAMS.
The 31.178-acre site was appraised by real estate valuation company Newmark Knight Frank as having an "as is" market value of $14.1 million, according to an appraisal document provided by UAMS to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The appraisal noted that recent development nearby includes Highlands Oncology, a medical site. There is also nearby construction of an office building for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield.