Dallas developers request Fayetteville rezone for multifamily project on Leverett

If Fayetteville city officials grant a requested rezoning of property on Leverett Avenue, a multimillion-dollar apartment development is likely on the way.

The Fayetteville Planning Commission will consider a rezoning request at its next meeting March 27. The land to be considered is 9.2 acres at 1840 N. Leverett Ave., bounded by Poplar Street to the north and Ash Street to the south. The property would change from a density of 24 units per acre to 40 units per acre.

The developers requesting the rezoning are from Dallas, Tommy Kilbride and Tait Coates. They are under contract to buy the land from the current owner, Fayetteville attorney George Niblock Sr. and his wife, Suzanne Niblock. That deal is scheduled to close later this year. The developers declined to say what the purchase price is.

Coates described the plan as a work-in-progress, more or less, but said the development would be a multifamily complex, comprised of three-story walkup buildings. They are requesting a rezone to utilize a higher percentage of the land.

“By no means do we need 40 units per acre, but that was the next step up from a density perspective,” Kilbride said. “To make the numbers work, we need just north of 24 an acre.”

Because of its close proximity about a mile north of the University of Arkansas, the site is appealing, both developers said. But they are not, necessarily, going after a piece of the student-housing market.

“We don’t know what our target tenant is just yet,” Coates said. “We want to get out into the community and talk to the city and determine the exact product type based on the public input we get.”

The Niblock family has owned the property since 1979. It consists of 14 townhomes and a trailer park. All of the trailers are individually owned by tenants, said George Niblock Jr., a principal of Niblock Ventures Inc., who negotiated the land sale.

“We have personally looked at developing this property for many years, but the Great Recession caused the majority of our development work to come to a halt,” he said. “When I assumed leadership of the investment portfolio, we decided as a family that it would be better to cash out in a strong market and reinvest the proceeds in new ventures.”

Niblock said one stipulation of the sale is the new owners will go “above and beyond” with the current tenants when the time arrives for construction. Kilbride said that won’t be until sometime in 2018.

In the meantime, Kilbride and Coates are leading development of a handful of luxury townhomes on Block Street. They’ve also just started development of single-family homes on South Block Street.

“The process that we have used is to ask the city what projects are most needed, then make our game plan based on what the city wanted and what the neighbors would enjoy,” Kilbride explained, “rather than just come in as bullheaded developers and not be conscientious of what would be best for the area. We’ve had some success that way.”