Plans Unveiled for New Office/Retail Development Near Walmart HQ
by February 16, 2015 12:00 am 1,239 views
An 80,000-SF Class A office/retail building is being planned at the southeast corner of Southwest 8th Street and Walton Boulevard, across the street from the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. headquarters.
The six-story development is valued at more than $20 million and is called 8W Center. It is proposed to rise at a 1.21-acre site at 805 S. Walton Blvd. and be complete by the summer of 2016.
“We’ve had strong interest on the project and a number of tenants that are already committed,” said Paul Esterer, principal and executive managing director of Newmark Grubb Arkansas in Bentonville, the commercial real estate firm representing the owner of the development.
Lease rates will start at $28 per SF. Esterer said approximately 14,000 SF of the building has already been leased to tenants, including a Jimmy John’s restaurant, which will be incorporated into the ground-floor restaurant and retail space.
8W Center LLC is the partnership that will own the development with the main investment partner, Troy Link.
Link is president of Link Snacks Inc. of Minong, Wisconsin, which produces Jack Link’s Beef Jerky products and is the largest meat snack brand in the country. Besides LSI, Link has other business interests including car dealerships and restaurants.
LSI owns the corner property, according to county records, and maintains a supplier office in the 5,000-SF office/retail building that currently occupies the site. That building also contains a Jimmy John’s restaurant.
8W Center is being designed by Bentonville-based Nielsen Architecture. Others who will work on the project include Robbins Engineering Consultants of Little Rock, Core States Group of Rogers and Morrison-Shipley Engineers of Bentonville.
The Dave Grundfest Co. of Little Rock has completed initial bid pricing and is expected to be the contractor, Esterer said. Construction should start this summer.
Esterer said several lenders have expressed interest in backing the project and the owner hopes to select a bank soon.
The owners have also applied for rezoning and will submit a site plan and drawings to the city within the next 60 days.