Ex-Developer Richard Alexander Still Keen On Mountain Inn Site

Richard Alexander had it all. Cash, credit and important preservation projects like the Inn at Carnall Hall on his CV. Before the Great Recession, nothing seemed out of Alexander’s reach — not even a proposed 18-story luxury hotel on Mountain Street in Fayetteville called the Renaissance Tower.

Alexander and his partner, John Nock, secured funding, demolished the old Mountain Inn, dug a foundation and planned to open the new building in September 2007.

Then came the recession. Alexander held onto his home and his family but lost just about everything else, including the Renaissance. Now retired from real estate development and his law practice, Alexander enjoys the simple pleasures of life in Fayetteville — restaurants, coffee shops, trails and live music. He’s also watching with interest now that the Mountain Inn property has been purchased.

“I always thought someone would figure out it was a great location,” Alexander said. “If I had the wherewithal, I’d still put a hotel there.”

An investor from Mountain Home, NWAP LLC, bought the property for $1.1 million on June 24. The owner has yet to be publicly identified and has not announced plans for the property, but, according to published reports, a mixed-use project that includes lodging, residential and retail is under consideration.

Real estate broker Ramsay Ball of Colliers International, who listed the property for The Bank of Fayetteville, said he could not speak to specifics, but did say the property is in good hands.

“The current owners have plans for the property and it will be good for the city of Fayetteville,” Ball said.

Hawaiian Shirts

Though the property could wind up as a premier site, it’ll probably be years before it’s built, meaning Fayetteville, at least for now, will have to live with the unsightly mess at the entrance and exit to the square. 

Alexander, 62, was glad to hear the property sold.

“I thought, ‘Good,’” he said. “I wish them luck.”

Though the location is now a parking lot and the remains of the original Mountain Inn on Mountain and Center streets, the site still holds a special place in the annals of Fayetteville. Years ago, Center Street, which dead ends at the old Washington County courthouse, was lawyer row. The Mountain Inn’s lounge, the Brass Monkey, was the watering hole of choice for judges, attorneys, politicians and reporters. Billie Snyder was the longtime bartender who ruled with an iron hand.

“If you can remember the Brass Monkey, then you weren’t there,” Alexander quipped. “It was pretty wild.”

Though he is retired, Alexander still wears vintage silk Hawaiian shirts — the hallmark of his development days — and as a homeowner on east Dickson Street, still enjoys the energy and excitement of urban living.

During an interview at Arsaga’s The Depot on Dickson Street, Alexander had a plate of bacon and eggs and a cup of cappuccino. He talked about coming to Northwest Arkansas as a “back-to-the-lander,” referenced his travels — with an emphasis on gritty eastern Europe — and professed his love for Fayetteville.

Life didn’t necessarily go as planned, he concluded, and that’s not all bad.

“I don’t mind not waking up at night worrying about a $20-million project,” he said, and then ate a strawberry.

Not the Godfather

When Alexander arrived in Fayetteville in the late 1970s, many downtown buildings were either boarded up or were in such poor condition that they needed to be renovated. He plunged into development full time and all but abandoned his career in law.

Along the way, he had a hand in various restorations, including the Campbell Bell building, the Bank of America building and the E.J. Ball building — all on the square — as well as numerous houses near Dickson Street, the Jug Wheeler building that now houses Theo’s, and the conversion of St. Joseph Catholic Church and School into condominiums.

Alexander downplays the notion that he is the godfather of modern-day downtown Fayetteville. That title, he said, is more fitting for John M. Lewis, The Bank of Fayetteville founder known by his peers as “Mr. Fayetteville.”

Alexander concedes his work was impactful, and his expertise in historic preservation was such that he gained support for, and then executed, the landmark restoration of the Inn at Carnall Hall, a project completed in 2003.

Construction of the Renaissance Tower, along with a $19-million renovation of what was then the Cosmopolitan hotel, would have represented the apogee of Alexander’s ambition. The Renaissance alone was a $30-million, 200-room project that included a parking deck, pool, restaurant, bar and ballroom.

But, as Alexander put it, as $50 million in projects was riding on the line, “Financing evaporated overnight.” As Arkansas National Bank and Metropolitan National Bank crumbled, so too did Alexander’s career as a developer.

“It put me out of business completely,” he said of the real estate crash. “It separates your friends from your not-friends. Any disaster does that, and I have no complaints.”