Here?s Looking at Brownstone

Perry L. Butcher has pulled off some marvelous architectural performances in his career, but getting Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman to hang out in Bentonville could be his greatest effort.

Butcher is the owner of Brownstone Development LLC — a $1.5 billion commercial development just 3.5 miles west of Rainbow Curve in Bentonville. Among the bold plans for the project, which will cost $300 million-$450 million to build, is to have black-and-white movies such as the 1942 classic “Casablanca” shown on the walls around the pedestrian-friendly walkways throughout Brownstone.

The aim is to go one step further than existing Arkansas office/retail gems such as Pinnacle Point and Village on the Creeks in Rogers or Little Rock’s WestLake Corporate Center. Butcher said his 151-acre project will create a new environment for business in the region by rivaling even the most chic showcase developments from Kansas City, Mo., to Dallas.

Brownstone is about halfway (eight minutes) between the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill and the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. home office in Bentonville and has 3/4-mile of frontage on Airport Boulevard.

Construction on two hotels — the names have yet to be released — a 130,000-SF, five-story office building; a convenience store; and a “destination” restaurant will begin this summer at Brownstone.

“There are several groups we’re talking to,” said Perry Ellis Butcher, Perry L.’s son and marketing director at Brownstone. “A lot of people are ready to invest. We’re contacting vendors and setting up meetings.”

Brownstone general manager John Sampier said instead of going to places like Dallas and talking to a group of about a dozen prospective clients at a time, they’re “just bringing them here and putting them up for a few days. Some of them don’t want to leave.”

Sampier, a longtime employee at Perry L. Butcher & Associates Architects and the former mayor of Rogers, recently left his post as governmental affairs manager at Waste Management Inc. in Tontitown to rejoin Butcher.

Butcher’s grand plan is to eventually have about 64 lots in Phase I of the development that will also include 30-40 buildings.

Big City Similarities

Tulsa’s Utica Square, Kansas City’s The Plaza and Dallas’ Las Colinas are some of the business parks mentioned as role models for Brownstone. But Butcher wants to take his design to the next level.

Plans include a shopping center, a grocery store, a multi-use office tower between 12-15 stories tall, white-cloth restaurants and possibly some condominiums.

Brownstone could eventually have between 10,000-12,000 employees, likely causing residential development in the immediate area to soar. And Butcher believes from 3,500-4,500 people could eventually live in the new subdivisions that will surely come with the completion of Brownstone.

With the population surge, a school and fire station would probably come to the area directly across from Wal-Mart’s distribution center on Airport Boulevard (Arkansas Highway 12).

“I don’t think you would even contemplate something of this scale without Wal-Mart being around here,” Sampier said.

The distribution center already employs about 1,700 people. And about 1,200-plus trucks enter and exit the distribution center each day.

“We want it to be a town,” Perry L. Butcher said. “We’ve got to take care of this piece of property. We don’t want to copy anybody else’s shopping center. This is an international community. A lot of vendors come here from outside the United States. Their personalities will be reflected in the buildings, the restaurants, etc.”

Sampier believes businesses interested in coming to Brownstone will come from “coast to coast.”

The site had been purchased by Walter Gray of Siloam Springs in 2001. He purchased 38 acres for $3.5 million with plans to build Straube Park. Only Tower Restaurant went in the planned business park, and it has since closed. The 6,600-SF building that housed the restaurant is temporarily serving as Brownstone’s offices.

The eldest Butcher pointed out that travelers from the Rogers and Bentonville area to the Highfill cannot grab a bite to eat at the airport (XNA) unless they have a ticket. That’s because the XNA cafe is inside the terminal, past security checkpoints.

“The closest place [to eat] right now is the gas station at Rainbow Curve,” he said.

First to Move

Dallas developer Michael Horn owns much of the land immediately north of XNA. He told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal last August that he planned to make an announcement soon regarding his plans there. It is believed a hotel would be first and foremost on that list. Horn has said he has a “seven- to 10-year plan” that would call for an office, retail and residential complex. He hopes to build as many as 10 restaurants, six hotels, eight office buildings, about 400 apartment units, two convenience stores, a bank, a daycare center and retail stores on the 249-acre stretch of land he owns.

Ed Hendrix of Elm Springs owns much of the land just south of XNA.

But Butcher is beating the other airport-area developers to the punch.

Some of the buildings at Brownstone will be leased, some will be managed by Brownstone and others will be sold. Perry Ellis Butcher said there are numerous ways the development will grow, but there will be a common denominator.

“Everything [built] has to be reviewed by the architectural committee,” the younger Butcher said. “It has to have aesthetic value. We don’t want the same old same old where they’re packed in beside each other.”

Among the aesthetics planned at Brownstone are more walking space and less visable parking space.

Perry L. Butcher said about one-third of the parking at Brownstone will be above ground level and about one-sixth underground.

“That could allow us to have more building space, but that’s not what we’d be doing it for,” Perry L. Butcher said. “We want it to have more of a campus-like atmosphere. In some ways, it will be like an old town with a park in the front.”

South Carolina native Barry Witherspoon, who Sampier called one of the most prominent landscape architects in the country, has been hired to make sure the green space is second to none for the commercial development in Northwest Arkansas.

“One of the most attractive and unique features is the attention to the environment,” Sampier said. “A key is having all of the pedestrian and green space we want. We would rather have someone walk across a park-like area rather than walking through a sea of cars.”

There will also likely be some overhead walkway tunnels from building to building.

Builders will be encouraged to be environmentally conscious and put in solar panels. Meanwhile, Perry Ellis Butcher said one of the greatest amenities will be that Brownstone will have “the finest in computer accessibility. It will be a whole new frame of mind of how businesses can interact.”

24/7

Halogen lights will illuminate Brownstone and its walking paths when the sun goes down, making those who wish to take a stroll or just window shop feel completely safe.

It is designed to be a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day environment. And Sampier said businesses shouldn’t have to leave the premises for much outsourcing.

“We want to recruit the types of businesses and services so that once a person gets to work here in the morning they won’t need to leave.” Sampier said. “There’ll be printing services, child care facilities and such.”

Perry Ellis Butcher added, “We want people to enjoy themselves. We want it to be a place where people can find the things they’re looking for.”

Restaurants will play a big role in the development.

“In part of the development we really want a neat entertainment area,” Sampier said. “We want to have really unique attractions such as white-cloth restaurants with big orchestra dances. We’re trying to think of everybody. We’ll encourage outdoor cafes, street vendors … if you’ve ever been to New York City you know they have those hot dog carts and they’re world famous. Maybe we could have something like that. A large percentage of the people moving here have never heard of Northwest Arkansas before they were moving here, so we want them to be comfortable.

“The fun thing is all the possibilities there will be for businesses and for the people looking for entertainment. We want it to be a place when people come out it’s fun to look at the architecture. We want the architecture to be something substantial.”

Any “legitimate” business is capable of moving into Brownstone.

Bentonville does not have a movie theater, something Perry L. Butcher would like to add to Brownstone in the future. Meanwhile, he likes the idea of classic movie scenes playing silently while people walk through the development.

“Dad is a progressive dreamer,” Perry Ellis Butcher said. “He wants to leave his mark on society.”