Mellon Tests Ripe Market

The white board in the Nabholz Construction Corp. trailer at S.E. J and 28th streets in Bentonville states, If you are not going to be safe, you are not going to be here.

Below that are figures, names and miscellaneous scribbled notes about the project outside the door. The trailer sits on the site of the Bentonville Professional Center, where Hearthstone Builders Inc., owned by Mike Mellon, is winding down its work.

Though hes been in the commercial development trade for about 20 years, this is the first commercial building Mellon has built in Northwest Arkansas. Hes the developer and general contractor on the center.

The group broke ground on the 15,000-SF multi-tenant building in January, and Mellon said its on track to be completed sometime in July.

The valuation of the building permit from the Bentonville Building and Inspection Office is $1.4 million, but that figure is an assessed value and is not necessarily the actual value of the project.

Wittenberg Delony & Davidson Inc. of Fayetteville is the architect on the project. Nabholz is one of the subcontractors.

Melon declined to share construction costs on the building.

The Bentonville Professional Center is already 40 percent leased by two tenants, both of whom happen to be physicians, Mellon said.

Mellon said he thinks the easy, secure access to the building has been the selling point to both physicians, but the remaining space is open to lease by anyone.

Though part of it is promised, lease prices have not been set. Mellon said the price per square foot will be competitive.

I wouldnt be doing this if it didnt make economic sense, he said.

The building will have some of the most advanced technology available, Mellon said. Instead of keys, tenants will be given an electronic fob that they wave in front of a sensor near the door.

That way, access can be granted or denied electronically. Even a tenants principal can change access, monitor the comings and goings of employees or lock doors remotely via the Internet.

A closed-circuit television system will be in place too, for after-hours security.

Mellon moved his family to Rogers about one-and-a-half years ago from Florida. The crowds and traffic had become too much for him, he said.

His family vacationed in the area and canoed on the Buffalo River, so when it was time to relocate, he picked Northwest Arkansas for its beauty and steady economy.

He is worried about the architecture in Northwest Arkansas, he said, so he has consciously tried to create a space completely different from strip mall offices common to the area.

Hearthstone will also develop large upscale custom homes, Mellon said.

He has one 6,000-SF home on Beaver Lake that is about 50 percent complete and he believes he has a buyer. So Hearthstone is in the planning stages for a second home that will be about the same size, he said.

The home will sell for just under $1 million, he said.