Mathias Building at Forum
by June 9, 2003 12:00 am 85 views
With 1.5 million SF of commercial space — and 95 percent of that leased — Sam Mathias shows no signs of arrested development.
Mathias Properties has 19 shopping centers — 11 in Springdale; two each in Fayetteville and Lowell; and one each in Bentonville, Rogers, Russellville and Tulsa.
His shopping centers range from 11,635 SF to 354,000 SF in size, with Ozark Center Point Place in Springdale being the largest and most profitable.
Shops at the Forum
Mathias’ 20th retail center, The Shops at the Forum in Bentonville, is scheduled to be completed in August. Construction began on the 100,000-SF shopping center in October. Mathias said the project will cost between $75 and $80 per SF to build, which would bring the total to about $8 million.
“We’re still hanging steel right now,” Mathias said. “We’re still doing the parking lot.”
In addition to the main building at The Shops at the Forum, two 1.15-acre out-parcel lots are available for tenants (probably chain restaurants) in front of the shopping center.
“We have three letters of intent on two out parcels,” said Mathias, who began his career as a developer in 1976 by building apartments.
The architect’s drawing of The Shops at the Forum shows storefronts made of different types of material to give the building the appearance of a small-town street. The different storefronts are also being constructed so they aren’t flush with the front of the building. With some storefronts a few feet more toward the parking lot than others, it gives the shopping center a sense of depth, said Curtis Wray, vice president of Springdale-based Mathias Properties.
“We’re using a lot of different materials on it that we haven’t used together in the past,” Mathias said.
Ozark Business Park
In addition to shopping centers, Mathias has a business park under construction on 105 acres he owns adjacent to Ozark Center Point Place.
There are five buildings under one roof totaling 57,000 SF completed. Five more buildings are under construction at the site. Tenants include Petra CNA, Trane Heating and Air, Terracon (an engineering firm) and Glad/Clorox, which plans to make straws at the site.
Ozark Business Park has office and warehouse space for lease, Mathias said. The business park has a total of 46 lots.