Plans announced for 33-acre office park in north Bentonville

Construction is set to begin this spring on the first of four buildings in a new office park in Benton County called the Rice Office Complex, dubbed by its developers as The ROC.

The 33-acre site — bordered to the north by Rice Lane and to the east by Rice Road — is along northbound Interstate 49, north of the Arkansas Highway 72 exit in Bentonville.

Commercial real estate company Sage Partners announced the project Thursday (Feb. 16) and will lead leasing efforts. The firm is advertising triple-net lease rates of $18.50 per square foot. Core Architects of Rogers and Chuck Henry of Fayetteville are leading the design work.

The first building available for lease has 71,500 square feet of Class A office space and should be completed by the end of the year. It’s working its way through the city planning process, Sage Partners president Marshall Saviers said. Three additional buildings are planned totaling 210,000 square feet, but a timetable for their construction was not announced. Saviers declined to give a value for the project, but based on previous reporting of Class A office construction in Benton County within the last three years, the first 71,500 square foot building value could range between $11 million and $14 million. Sage Partners has had the property listed for sale more than two years, most recently for $7.19 million ($5 per square foot).

The four buildings in the office park could house 2,000 employees, according to Sage Partners. According to Benton County property records, the land is owned by Phil and Dayna Martz, son-in-law and daughter of Kansas City Royals owner and retired Wal-Mart Stores CEO David Glass. Phil Martz is a partner in The ROC’s development group, CrossMar Investments. Chris Crossland is also a partner

“Recognizing the need for facilities that balance efficiency with modern building amenities, CrossMar and the ROC is answering the needs of 21st Century business in Northwest Arkansas,” Saviers said. “As the area continues to grow and the consumers demand space with more capabilities, we are proud to offer cutting edge office space for our clients.”

CrossMar manages and has developed more than 1 million square feet of commercial real estate in the office, industrial and retail sectors. The group is also developing a six-building industrial complex across from the Wal-Mart Distribution Center on Arkansas Highway 12 in southwest Bentonville. One building is fully leased and Sage Partners is leasing a 200,000 square-foot building, scheduled for completion at the end of 2017. The first phase of the park will consist of 1.3 million square feet, with a second phase planned as well.

Saviers said much like those industrial projects, The ROC would be constructed in stages. The office park will provide needed space in Northwest Arkansas’ commercial market, he said.

According to the latest quarterly report from Xceligent Inc., a commercial real estate research information and marketing firm that compiles and lists information on commercial properties for several markets across the U.S., including Northwest Arkansas, the office vacancy rate in the fourth quarter of 2016 in the Bentonville sub-market was 10.3%.

“While Fayetteville [Central Business District] and east Springdale submarkets offer the most affordable asking rents in the market, they also have the lowest vacancy rates with a 1.2% and 1.5% respectively,” the report noted. “Users looking in those submarkets will likely be pushed north into Benton County.”