Small towns bouncing back from recession

Tammy Bitzer had always wanted to have her own pharmacy and earlier this year, that dream came true.

Bitzer opened Tammy B’s Pharmacy in April 2012 in a place some might consider unlikely – Elkins. Listed as located in Fayetteville in post office records, the pharmacy is geographically located well within the Elkins city limits and it’s one of several new businesses coming to the town of about 2,300 people this year.  

Bitzer was a long-time favorite pharmacist at Sam’s Club from 2003-2011. Several life events led her to leave that job and take some time off, she said. She already lived near Elkins and had noticed during her commute through the town situated nine miles from Fayetteville on Arkansas 16 that it did not have a pharmacy.

When she started getting back into the workforce, Bitzer decided to try and change that. City officials were welcoming and excited to have a pharmacy come to town, she said.

“(Mayor) Bruce Ledford seems to have a vision for the city and it’s being accepted by everyone,” she said.

Bitzer has also helped bring other health-related services to the town including a dentist and a nurse practitioner.

“I’ve put out a lot of feelers to get people here,” she said.

Other businesses have opened or are scheduled to open soon in Elkins including a new Harps grocery store, a new Salvation Army Thrift Store, a Casey’s General Store and several other businesses.

Elkins is not alone in that growth is returning both in residential and business arenas.

When land prices ran out of sight in the major cities along Interstate 540 around 2006 or so, home builders looked a little off the beaten path east and west of Fayetteville and both north and south of Rogers for more affordable lots. Elkins, Farmington, Pea Ridge and Lowell all attracted more families prior to 2008, but growth tapered off pretty quickly thereafter.

In Elkins, there have been 17 building permits so far this year compared to the 15 in all of 2010 and 19 in 2009. The numbers are clearly not up to the 2006 figure of 128, but that was at a time when a major subdivision was being constructed, according to city officials.

Ledford said that while growth has leveled off since before the recession, Elkins is still seeing businesses and homes coming to the city and he credits the new high school and relatively new elementary school for the growth trickling in.

Mountdata.com reports Elkins had 44 home sales through the first nine months this year. The prices ranged from $17,000 to $375,000, with the median price of $82,500.

It’s no secret that businesses follow rooftops and the small towns welcome the trend, and the bigger tax base.

Efforts to attract new business include maintaining a clean city and making infrastructure improvements such as installing better water line. The fire and police departments are another asset in the city, he said.

GOING WEST
A stone’s throw west of I-540 in south Fayetteville, Farmington city officials say the town has been able to maintain a strong economy despite the recession and sluggish recovery.

“We’re very fiscally conservative,” said Melissa McCarville, business manager. “We’re not running into issues about not having enough money to do what we need to do to keep people safe.”

The town’s largest single employer is the Farmington Public School system, she said. Most people enjoy living in the smaller town and then commuting to their jobs elsewhere, she added. There are a growing number of smaller businesses in the area, including a new Dollar General that opened last spring and several new restaurants, she said.

“I checked with a local realtor recently and we only had about 30 houses for sale,” said Melissa McCarville, business manager. “We’re doing pretty well keeping the houses we have sold and not vacant.”

She said residential construction is ongoing at both Valley View Country Club and Twin Falls subdivisions.

Mountdata reports 73 homes have sold so far this year. The high price was $417,000 and the low was $21,000. The median home sale price this year is $135,000.

Good planning and good schools both contribute to the quality of life in Farmington, which attracts a growing number of people, McCarville said.

Public Works Director Dan Ledbetter said that the number of building permits issued this year  are about average for the town.

"It was more residential then more commercial, now it's back to more residential," he said. "It never really died here like it did other places," he said.

IN THE MIDDLE
Growth slowly returns to a few small towns in Benton County and Lowell says it benefits from its central location.

Antrim’s Pancake House was a long-time favorite in Bentonville for 21 years but when the building was torn down, the restaurant needed a new home. Lowell had good space available and it reopened there this summer, said co-owner Sue Antrim.   

“It’s been pretty good,” she said, adding that small towns are often able to continue growing because people who live there want to buy local. So far it’s been mostly locals who have visited the restaurant but some former customers from the Bentonville area are starting to learn about the new location.

City officials say Antrim’s moving to town was a good thing. Lowell has a strong base of fast food restaurant selections but needs more sit-down style eating selections, according to Kris Sullivan, planning and economic development coordinator.

“We have as many people working here as we do living here,” she said “We want to encourage them to stay here if they are going to eat out.”

There are a growing number of businesses and other additions to the tax base, Sullivan said. Lowell already has several large employers including J.B. Hunt and Arvest Bank’s back office and mortgage lending division.

New commercial developments include the Arkansas State Police Troop L headquarters, a new Atwoods and a 36,000 square-foot expansion at Arvest.

The residential market is also picking up steam with hammers flying in three different subdivisions.

Sullivan said to date 73 residential building permits have been issued and 21 commercial building permits have been issued in Lowell.

Sullivan said the new homes range from starter level to a few more elaborate and semi-custom.

MountData.com reports 93 home sales so far this year. Prices ranged from $14,000 to $750,000 with a median home price of $139,000. Sales are up slightly from a year ago.

Lowell is working on its infrastructure and making other improvements in hopes of attracting more employers and residents. This includes being part of the regional trail system and better parks. The centralized location just off of I-540 is a key helpful factor, Sullivan said.

“We’re 12 minutes from just about everywhere,” she said. “I think that wherever you’re going to head in Northwest Arkansas, chances are that you’re going right through Lowell.”

PERMITS PLUNGE
Other towns with close proximity to larger cities aren’t faring as well. Pea Ridge is northeast of Bentonville on Arkansas Highway 72 and just as close to Rogers. Both larger cities have seen a robust rebound in residential and commercial building this year.

But Pea Ridge is slower to catch up, according to Vicki Briolat, an agent for Crye-Leike who has lived in the Pea Ridge area for several years.

“It’s a sleepy little town that young families are still attracted to as a place to raise a family,” Briolat said. “But business expansion has been tepid.”

Mayor Jackie Crabtree said he’s approached Casey’s, Kum & Go and Atwoods about expansion into Pea Ridge but has not yet found a taker.

“They say our traffic count is not high enough at this point,” he said. “We have had a couple of professional businesses open in the city this year. Dr. Rhonda Higgins, formerly of Northwest Health Systems opened a family medical practice in town and a trucking brokerage firm also moved in.”

Crabtee said Retread Clothing also opened this year and all three new businesses took over empty space built a few years back.

He said the Rainbow Asian Bistro was the last restaurant to locate in Pea Ridge, and it opened nearly two years ago.

“We would like to see more business come to town given that our population doubled to nearly 4,800 residents during the last decade,” Crabtree said. “But the last thing we want to see is a business open and then close. Hopefully if the economy continues to improve into 2013 we get some new attention.”

City building inspector Tony Townsend said building permits have drastically dropped off in the town, but the numbers have almost returned to pre-population boom numbers,

At the beginning of the boom, there were 360 permits sought, the next year it was about 180 then about 90.

Townsend said this year so far there have been 12 permits in the city and few more are expected to be sought by the end of the year. 

“We had 17 subdivisions going in at one time,” he said. “People wanted to come here for the slower pace of life. It’s small enough that you can still get to know people.”

MountData.com reports there have been 79 home sales in Pea Ridge this year. The prices range from $20,000 to $495,000, with the median of $83,000.

Briolat says the median home price has been hammered by foreclosure sales as one entire subdivision was taken back by the lender in the last year.