The Evolution on Emma Continues

Change has been in motion in downtown Springdale since private capital started flowing into East Emma Avenue and the surrounding areas in 2014.

It started when it was announced that the now-complete Razorback Greenway, the region’s 36-mile bike trail, would pass through the district, and the city planned improvements in the neighborhood, including the restoration of Spring Creek and the construction of Walter Turnbow Park, which has been delayed several times but is underway.

After the announcements, Tyson Foods Inc. and a Walton family interest purchased properties downtown, and other investors started buying in and opening businesses as well.

Black Apple Crossing cidery, The Steam restaurant, Emma Avenue Bar & Taproom, Phat Tire Bike Shop, Trailside Coffee Co. and Core Brewing Co. are among the new businesses to open within the past year and a half, and there’s more in the works, including the reinvention of the old Apollo Theater building.

Meanwhile, everyone’s hoping whatever the Walton family does with the properties it has bought will cause an explosion in downtown Springdale, as it has in other cities.

Some of the business owners are anxious to find out what will come of the project. They’re the little guys. They’ve hung their shingles, and now they’re just waiting for the boom.

That’s not to say big things aren’t happening already. Business owners who have been downtown for a while say foot traffic has dramatically increased, primarily because of the greenway trail, and Tyson Foods has announced plans for several of the properties it has invested in.

It opened a new office at a former Jones Truck Lines terminal last year, and is currently building a two-story, 44,000-SF facility at 317–319 E. Emma Ave., slated for completion in the last half of 2017.

Springdale Downtown LLC, the Walton family interest that owns San Jose Manor and the adjoining Ryan’s Clothing store building, totaling about 30,000 SF of commercial space, has now set a date on the reveal of what it will do with it.

“Our plans for the re-development of the property will be completed in 2017,” said Natalie Ghidotti, who handles public relations for Springdale Downtown.

“As you probably know, Springdale Downtown LLC cleaned out one of the buildings last year. We did that as part of the pre-development process to better understand the structures and see how they can be repurposed. We retained an architect and a structural engineer to take us through that process,” said Ghidotti, president and CEO of Ghidotti Communications in Little Rock.

It’s nothing new for the Walton family to stay mum on a project until they’ve done their homework, dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s.

We’re hoping for downtown Springdale that this all falls under the adage, “good things take time.”