New Mathews

Bentonville Plaza at 609 S.W. Eighth St. in Bentonville is perhaps the premier commercial address in Northwest Arkansas. Located across the street from the home office of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., you’d think leasing space there as a commercial real estate agent would be a dream job, or at least a job that’d be hard to walk away from.

But that’s exactly what happened Oct. 6 when Grady Mathews, director of leasing and marketing with Newmark Grubb Arkansas the last six years, left the company.

Mathews, of course, didn’t leave in a bad way. Bentonville Plaza, you see, is fully occupied, and pre-leasing for a second, companion plaza is underway. Mathews’ job duties will be picked up by longtime agent Ed Belto.

But all that got Whispers to thinking: What’s Mathews going to do? When reached by phone, he wouldn’t say what his plans were. But he seemed to be in good spirits and gave a strong hint that something new and exciting was on the horizon.

“I’ve got to let the dust settle on this thing,” he said, referring to his departure. “Everything is going great.”