Catfish Hole Expansion on Hold
by October 25, 2011 2:58 pm 64 views
Have you heard one of Fayetteville’s most popular restaurants will soon expand into Benton County?
That was the plan, but It now looks like it will happen later rather than sooner. Pat Gazzola and his wife, Janie, owners of Catfish Hole on Wedington Road, paid Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock $500,000 last December for 1.7 acres on Winsted Lane in Bentonville.
“We [bought] it for that purpose,” Pat Gazzola said. “You don’t pay $500,000 for a piece of land just to let it sit there.”
The property is in the undeveloped Rainbow Junction subdivision just south of the intersection of Southwest Regional Airport and South Walton boulevards. BOZ took ownership of the 28-lot subdivision in 2009, the result of a lawsuit settlement between the bank and Northwest Arkansas developers William Lazenby and Donel Heckathorn.
Gazzola’s grab in Benton County, however, has not coincided with prosperous times for the catfish industry. In April we reported on the difficulties — scarcity of fish for restaurant owners and higher prices for consumers.
“The outlook hasn’t gotten a whole lot better,” Gazzola said. “The prices have gone through the roof since then, but people’s incomes haven’t.”
Gazzola said it’s possible he could break ground on the new location in May or June 2013.