Plans for Whisenhunt Property Move Ahead as Market Heats Up

It’s been roughly 15 months since Little Rock developer Joe Whisenhunt scooped up 375 acres of prime commercial real estate in Northwest Arkansas for $19 million in an all-cash deal.

Since then, the company that markets, sells and develops property for the Whisenhunt family has opened a Rogers office, started its first big development project and recently put several tracts on the market in the fast-growing area off Pauline Whitaker Parkway west of Interstate 540.

Russellville developer Burke Larkin was hired last fall to represent Little Rock-based Whisinvest Realty LLC in Northwest Arkansas. He opened Whisinvest’s office at 5417 Pinnacle Point Drive in February.

Larkin said Whisinvest is working on site plans for a 20,000-SF shopping center, called Pleasant Crossing Shoppes, to be built just north of the Walmart Supercenter near Pleasant Grove Road. The shopping center will occupy half of a 5.11-acre tract, Larkin said, and is already about 50 percent pre-leased. It will have a mix of local and national tenants, he said.

Whisinvest has hired Crafton Tull of Rogers as the local engineer for the project, he said, and Roark Perkins Perry Yelvington Architects of Little Rock will provide architectural services.

“We think this is going to be a great project and a fantastic location,” Larkin said. “We made some promises for late December/early January for completion, so we’re about to start pushing really hard.”

The other half of the tract, closer to I-540 behind Golden Corral, has drawn interest from a couple of hotel groups, he said.

The 375 acres purchased in March 2012 mostly comprises three large chunks of land along I-540 in Rogers and Lowell. It was previously owned by Bank of America, which had acquired the properties by forfeiture or foreclosure in 2010 and 2011 from groups that included Northwest Arkansas developers Charles Reaves, Bill Schwyhart and Gary Brandon.

Johnny Kincaid, the chief operating officer of Whisenhunt Investment Group in Little Rock and principal broker of Whisinvest Realty, said the plan when Whisenhunt bought the property was to hold it until the commercial real estate market turned around and demand picked up.

“We’re still in the middle of an economic downturn, but we are seeing improvement with new home starts and that sort of thing,” Kincaid said. “So we’re real bullish on Northwest Arkansas.”

 

Recession Fallout

Ramsay Ball, a commercial real estate broker with Colliers International in Bentonville, told Arkansas Business at the time of Joe Whisenhunt’s purchase that the deal was “the most significant land transaction since the [real estate] bubble burst.”

To give some perspective on the value of this land, the 192 acres now owned by Whisenhunt in Pleasant Crossing was forfeited in lieu of foreclosure in 2010 by developer Charles Reaves, who owed $30.5 million on the property.

Gary Brandon lost 119 acres in The Grove, at South Dixieland and Pleasant Grove roads, through foreclosure in 2011 on a judgment of nearly $22 million. And Bill Schwyhart lost 64 acres in Pinnacle Hills through a 2010 foreclosure on a judgment of $28.7 million.

Back in 2005, Reaves was part of a group that planned 1.2 million SF of retail space on 345 acres in Pleasant Crossing. The development was to include a 60,000-SF IMAX theater and a 100,000-SF Parisian department store.

Schwyhart, his wife, Carolyn, and partners Robert and Frieda Thornton had planned an 85-acre development called the District at Pinnacle Hills, anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market, on the land south of Pauline Whitaker Parkway at West Perry Road.

Gary Brandon installed commercial and residential infrastructure in The Grove development, but only sold one lot before deeding the remainder of the property back to the bank.

 

Perfect Match

Larkin and Kincaid met about 10 years ago when the latter worked for the Hathaway Group, a commercial real estate brokerage firm in Little Rock. Kincaid went to work for Whisenhunt in 2011.

After Joe Whisenhunt bought the Northwest Arkansas property, Larkin said, “I read the article in Arkansas Business, and Johnny Kincaid was on the front page, [which] said, ‘Johnny Kincaid buys 364 acres in Benton County for the Whisenhunt Group.’

“So I sent him a funny email that said, ‘Next time, buy the whole county.’”

Within five minutes, Kincaid called him and said, “I want you to go to work for us.”

That conversation took place in April 2012, Larkin said, and after plenty of discussion and correspondence, they worked out arrangements for Larkin to represent Whisinvest in Northwest Arkansas.

Kincaid said Larkin had all the assets and skill sets needed for the job.

“Burke’s background is similar to mine,” Kincaid said. “We both concentrated our efforts in development. So I felt like that was a huge plus. And I knew Burke personally and professionally, and I knew what kind of person he was, and he was the kind of person that I felt would mesh nicely with the family organization.”

And Larkin has hit the bargain-priced ground running.

“The first thing we’re going to do is make sure all the brokers in Northwest Arkansas know that we have property, that we want to do build-to-suits, that we want to build and lease, like the shopping center,” Larkin said. “Also, we have select tracts that we’re willing to sell. And we want to work with the local commercial brokers.”

 

Future Plans

Earlier this year, the Rogers Planning Commission rejected a rezoning request by a company affiliated with Whisenhunt Investments that wanted to build condominiums on 21.18 acres at The Grove. Neighbors in surrounding single-family areas objected to the density of the project.

Larkin said the company won’t appeal that decision, but added, “We would, however, like to see a good, quality multifamily development in The Grove or in Pleasant Crossing at some point in the future.”

A couple of tracts at The Grove are presently under consideration with different potential buyers who would build office space, he said.

“What we’re really looking for is a couple of big users that would bring the critical mass to The Grove, and the critical mass to the south end of Pleasant Crossing,” Larkin said. “We feel like if we can do some big things that draw a lot of folks in, that doesn’t just help us, but that helps all the neighbors, that helps everybody that’s got a piece of property that they’re trying to build, that they’re trying to lease, that they’re trying to sell.”

Larkin said he talks to area single-family homebuilders who are building and selling houses in subdivisions adjacent to The Grove and Pleasant Crossing.

“I wouldn’t say these houses are flying off the shelves, but I think they’ve had a good spring 2013,” he said. “There’s a lot of demand right now.”

Farther north on I-540 at Pauline Whitaker Parkway, three lots around the Neighborhood Market just south of West Perry Road are up for sale, and Larkin said Whisinvest is in the process of planning what to do with the rest of the 54-acre tract.

Just across Perry Road lies land owned by Hunt Ventures, which recently said a Chuy’s and another restaurant will go in that location. And the Walton Arts Center recently said the Arkansas Music Pavilion will move to Hunt Ventures land a little farther north near the Embassy Suites.

“Every day we see something else that gives us just more and more optimism on where things are headed,” Larkin said.