Homebuilder Plans Large-Scale Subdivision, New Headquarters

From within the deepest trenches of the Great Recession and housing market crisis, residential developer Mark Marquess chose to revive his home-building career, launching Riverwood Homes in Fayetteville about seven years ago.

And now, business is thriving. Marquess’ team is developing subdivisions and building residential real estate all over Northwest Arkansas.

Riverwood will soon move its offices to a more high-profile location just off North College Avenue, and the team is planning a residential development that, when completed, could be the largest subdivision in Fayetteville.

Once all phases are complete (Marquess estimates there will be four or five), the neighborhood will boast between 500 and 600 lots and will stretch from Broyles Road to Rupple Road, which is currently undergoing a 1.5-mile extension from just south of Persimmon Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The planned subdivision is dubbed Sloanbrooke, in homage to Charles Sloan, chief operating officer of Riverwood.

Marquess, through Riverwood, purchased the first nearly 56 acres for the  Sloanbrooke project last August, for a total of $1.2 million from Bear State Bank of Little Rock.

Riverwood purchased another 32 acres for the project from Cross Keys Development LLC of Fayetteville for about $825,000 in December.

The more than 150-acre spread that Marquess has earmarked for Sloanbrooke was mainly grass and hay bales when he got to it, save for the presence of Owl Creek.

Within the development, Marquess plans to showcase the natural water feature, while also playing to the scenic views offered by the Boston Mountains, located south of the property. 

On a Wednesday afternoon in early March, Marquess maneuvered his black, late-model Ford F-150 around the ditches and over the rock piles that appeared intermittently on the western side of the future Sloanbrooke subdivision, where holes were being dug and utility piping was being laid.

On that day, Marquess said he hopes to open the first phase of the subdivision in late summer. Presales are expected to start in April, and Marquess estimates full absorption within 18 months.

That phase will be comprised of 97 lots, located on the western side of the planned neighborhood, nearest Broyles Road, and will include a blended array of housing types, he explained.

A “Cottages” section of the neighborhood will have 55 lots, on which Riverwood will build homes that range from 1,350 SF to 1,700 SF. Prices will start at about $150,000.

Secondly, the first phase will also contain 30 “Enclave” lots, the houses on which would range from 1,700 SF to 2,400 SF, and start at about $200,000.

Finally, there are 12 “Estate” lots, on which Riverwood will build houses ranging from 2,500 SF to 3,200 SF, with prices starting close to $300,000.

The other acreage for the project Riverwood already owns is on the eastern side of the planned subdivision. It will front the Rupple Road extension. Marquess said the company has the option to buy the middle section for the neighborhood in the future.

He added that many developers and homebuilders learned a lesson from the recession — that Northwest Arkansas, with all its upward momentum, was not immune to financial woes.

The recession taught developers to take their time. Though the subdivision could ultimately be the biggest in town, “we’re not doing it all at once,” Marquess said. “We’re certainly not going to put in 300 lots right now.”

However, pointing to positive job growth in the region and encouraging projections from University of Arkansas economist Kathy Deck, Marquess said he is “cautiously optimistic” that the full subdivision will come to fruition as planned.

From the driver’s seat of his truck that day in March, Marquess gestured toward a space on the outer edge of the property next to Broyles Road, and said it was soon to become a tree-lined entrance. He also described winding roads and a 17-acre park that will lie along the northern section of the neighborhood.

He pointed to a spot of broken earth near the northwest corner of the property, where contractors had already cut into the ground to build a quarter-mile-long lake, which Marquess says will be a focal point of the property, along with its two or three fountains.

“The water features on this property are going to be amazing,” Marquess said.

He added that the scale of the development project, in addition to its amenities, means it falls within the category of a “master planned community.”

 

Western Frontier

With 30 years’ experience in the home-building business, Marquess confirms one of the most commonly used adages about real estate to be true.

“It’s all about location,” Marquess said, pointing to the fact that the neighborhood is within a half-mile distance from both the Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club and Owl Creek School and is about a five-minute drive to Interstate 49.

Also, a mixed-use, paved biking/walking trail is planned to run alongside the community, and Marquess said the trail will provide residents access to businesses on Wedington Drive that include Walgreens, Walmart Neighborhood Market and a growing number of restaurants.

There has been an uptick in commercial development in western Fayetteville during the last few years, and Marquess is banking on that being a draw for potential residents.

Just northwest of Sloanbrooke, Riverwood plans to put in another small subdivision containing affordable housing and a 1-acre park.

Also in the area, Riverwood’s commercial division is building a new office for McNaughton Real Estate, a business that Marquess says has been good to Riverwood.

In fact, he says the entire real estate sales industry has treated Riverwood well, and that is a relationship he hopes to maintain and further develop with the addition of an in-house real estate sales staff in the new building.

Marquess said there will be three sales team members and, with support staff, there will be eight to 10 members of the sales division. He added that the team will be there to assist, and not to compete with, local real estate agents. The business is 70 percent co-brokerage, he said.

The new headquarters is located at 3420 N. Plainview Ave., just off Millsap Road near North College Avenue, the new headquarters is a three-story, 10,000-SF building that will house Riverwood’s home-building, development and real estate divisions.

Marquess says Riverwood has always been a vertical company figuratively. The new office will make that literal. It’s a departure from the company’s current space, located in several suites within a one-story building off Arkansas 112.

Proximity to I-49 was perhaps the biggest selling point of the new office for Marquess, who says his company needs to be easily accessible to clients from throughout Northwest Arkansas.

Riverwood bought the Plainview property from JEC Holdings, led by Chambers Bank CEO John Ed Chambers III, and Marquess estimates the investment will total about $1 million, including renovations.

“It’s getting a full facelift,” he said. One addition will be the construction of an outdoor kitchen on the building’s large patio, which will be used to entertain subcontractors and real estate agents.

The building, which previously housed Rausch Coleman real estate and construction, was built in 2006.

The property, as well as an adjacent 11.2 acres, was purchased by JEC Holdings from George & George Land Co. for a combined price of $2.1 million in 2007.

At the new location, Riverwood will continue to offer a wide range of home-building services.

Marquess said the biggest piece of Riverwood’s construction business is production, with a focus on affordable housing. The team builds about 100 spec homes per year.

On average, the company builds 30 semicustom homes per year and about 20 full-on, custom residential properties, he said.

The variety in the scale of homes at Sloanbrooke is similar to neighborhoods Riverwood has built off North Salem Drive, at the Cobblestone, Crystal Springs and Holcomb Heights subdivisions.

Riverwood also recently broke ground on the Bellewood subdivision in Centerton, which is comprised of 144 lots with price points that start in the $140,000s.

All in all, Marquess has overseen development of more than 3,000 lots and construction of about 2,000 houses throughout his career.

“It’s been busy over the last 30 years,” Marquess said. “We’ve made quite an economic impact and stood the test of time.”