Kraft to Have New Home in Rogers by December

Pinnacle Point Holdings, consisting of Bill Schwyhart, Collins Haynes and Hunter Haynes, recently purchased a building permit valued at $3.48 million for a commercial facility in west Rogers.

The group is building a 41,000-SF building for Kraft Foods at Pinnacle Point. The building eventually will be 52,000 SF.

Kraft has existing office space in Bentonville but will move into one central location in December. It will have 190 employees.

Construction already has begun on the project at 5509 Pinnacle Point Drive.

Also, a 23,000-SF retail building is planned for 2530 Champions Drive. That project will be about $3 million.

Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. is the general contractor on both projects.

Arkansas National Bank Plans Corporate Complex

Arkansas National Bancshares Inc., the Bentonville holding company for Arkansas National Bank N.A., paid Dr. Mario Costaldi of Rogers $2.4 million in early April for 48 acres of pasture land. Dan Dykema, the bank’s chairman and CEO, said ANB eventually plans to build a new corporate complex on the property, which is at the northwest corner of Interstate 540 and Pleasant Grove Road in Rogers.

ANB likely will keep about eight acres of the commercially zoned tract for itself and develop the rest for mixed use.

Sellers Properties Inc. in Springdale has been chosen as the general contractor, and Harrison French Architecture in Bentonville is working on the design. A date has not been set for the project’s completion.

ANB’s portion of the development likely will include a bank branch that would give it 11 across Northwest Arkansas. The bank’s corporate headquarters, which is expected to be about 15,000 SF initially and as large as 50,000 SF if needs dictate, will handle all of the chain’s data processing.

No bids on infrastructure work at the site have been awarded yet. The property fronts both Pleasant Grove Road and a service road that runs parallel to I-540.

ANB has assets of more than $481 million.

Rogers Restaurant Gets New Financing

Kona Restaurant Group Inc., a division of Austin, Texas-based Fired Up Inc., on March 22 secured a loan of $1.47 million from G.E. Capital Corp. for new financing for its Rogers restaurant.

Johnny Carino’s Country Italian Restaurant, which is owned and operated by Kona Restaurant Group, is located in Scottsdale Center near the intersection of Interstate 540 and Walnut Street. It opened in December. The facility, complete with a patio area, is 6,935 SF.

Johnny Carino’s is a self-proclaimed casual dining restaurant, with innovative recipes and décor. It has restaurants in Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, Idaho and internationally in the Middle East.

Parkway Construction Co. of Louisville, Texas, was the general contractor.

Mechanical Engineers Eye New Rogers Home

Conark Builders, a subsidiary of Nabholz Construction Corp. in Rogers, is building a new home for a Rogers engineering firm. Conark got a building permit valued at $808,000 for the project.

Tim Geary of Geary Engineering expects to be in the company’s new home early next year. Currently located at 2 Executive Hangar Row, Geary Engineering will be moving into its 15,000-SF new facility at 5502 Walsh Lane #L at Pinnacle Point in west Rogers.

ARC Construction Adds to Centerpoint

ARC Construction and Development Inc. on March 27 got 11 loans totaling $687,500 from Bank of Arkansas to build more homes at a Bentonville subdivision.

The eventual 300-home Centerpoint subdivision is three miles west of Bentonville.

Homes at Centerpoint range from 1,100-1,500 SF and are priced from $69,000-$90,000.

Grahams Continue Red Rock Construction

Tim Graham and Tim Graham Jr. of Saddlewood Development Inc. recently secured five loans totaling $375,000 from JB Hunt LLC for more homes at a large Lowell subdivision.

Southfork subdivision, located in southeast Lowell, is currently undergoing construction of its Phase III, which has 224 lots. Phase I had 50 lots, and phase II had 42 lots.

Tim Graham is also president of Red Rock Development Inc.

Homes in Southfork range from $75,000 to $90,000 and are 1,200-1,800 SF.

New Real Estate Firm Has Unique Focus

Veteran Fayetteville developers Richard Alexander and Rob Merry-Ship have joined forces with Sheree Alt to form a new real estate company that will focus on urban renewal and development of residential and commercial properties across Fayetteville.

Alexander Merry-Ship Alt Real Estate Group Inc., with $1.5 million in production since forming in March, has some of Fayetteville’s most recognizable properties. Among them is the recently renovated 55-year-old UARK Bowl at 644 W. Dickson St., which has 14 high-end condominiums for sale or lease on its upper floor; retail, office and restaurant space for lease on the ground floor; and a 9,000-SF full-service banquet hall and events facility. The condos range in size from 1,250-2,000 SF. The total cost of the project was about $4.3 million.

Alt, a former Realtor with Coldwell Banker Faucette Real Estate in Fayetteville, is the firm’s principal broker.

Alexander and Merry-Ship are former contractors and longtime development partners. The two have renovated such downtown Fayetteville landmarks as the Campbell Bell Building; the Campbell Terrace apartments; the Rollston Building, which houses Nick’s Fine Steaks & Seafood and Cable Car Pizza; the Pyeatt Building; the Ozark Theater Building; and the Partridge and Cooper houses on North West Avenue. In addition, Alexander and Merry-Ship recently won the contract to renovate Carnall Hall at the University of Arkansas.

The company already has a healthy list of future projects, including an option on the 100,000-SF UARK Theater Building across the street from the UARK Bowl.

Alexander and Merry-Ship are founding members of the Downtown/Dickson Enhancement Project.

For their creative preservation efforts in renewing historic buildings, Alexander and Merry-Ship have won numerous awards from the city and the Fayetteville Historic District Commission, including a Fayetteville Heritage Award in 2000 for their work on the Cooper House, which decades ago was a boarding house and now houses the new company’s offices.