$60M Fountain Plaza Will Include 25 Buildings

Its big sky country over Bentonvilles Fountain Plaza.

There are no highline wires to mar the view over what is slated to be a $60 million, 25-building mixed-use development five years from now.

The owner spent a quarter million dollars burying all the utilities on site, said Ramsay Ball of Colliers Dickson Flake Partners in Rogers. There are no utility poles on this. Everything is first class.

Ball and Butch Gurganus, who is also with Colliers, have been leasing the property for owner Dynamic Development of Bentonville. Dynamic, in turn, is owned by Jeannie Fleeman Sooter.

May Construction Co. began utility work at the site in July and the building work in September. The construction company also moved its office from Fayetteville into one of the buildings at Fountain Plaza.

There are three completed buildings at the site, two office buildings (one 18,008 SF and the other 13,391 SF) and a 3,600-SF McAlisters restaurant. The McAlisters lot and a lot to be used by Bank of the Ozarks were purchased by those businesses. Two more lots are under contract to be sold this summer. The rest are owned and being developed by Dynamic.

A two-story 25,892-SF office building is under construction at the site. Americas Car-Mart plans to move its headquarters into 12,208 SF of that building. Colliers Dickson Flake Partners will move into 3,000 SF of the building when its completed.

Were gearing up property management right now and other services, Ball said.

Miller Boskus Lack of Fayetteville served as architect for the office buildings.

Work will begin soon on a 20,792-SF retail strip center that faces Walton Boulevard. The strip center, which is 63 percent leased, will house the main Benton County location for Signature Bank. Two restaurants are also eyeing space in that building. Of the buildings that exist or are currently under construction, 57 percent of the space is leased.

The development takes in 46 acres from J Street to Rainbow Road and from Walton Boulevard to Fountain Boulevard. Theres one-half mile of frontage on Walton Boulevard. Two ponds were built on the site and three fountains will be installed in the ponds.

Ball said the project is already four years into its pro forma plan after only the first year of construction.

Paul Gandy, senior project manager with May Construction, said the Bentonville Planning Commission approved the project quickly because the underground utilities were already in place.