Northwest Arkansas will play a starring role in new HGTV renovation pilot

Television shows centered on redevelopment, house-hunting and flipping are popular on the cable network Home and Garden Television (HGTV). Northwest Arkansas is about to take its turn in the spotlight.

A new HGTV pilot called “Almost Home” (airing Nov. 7 at 10 p.m. CST) features Dave and Jenny Marrs of Bentonville. They are the owners of Marrs Development, a company that specializes in the renovation and restoration of historic homes.

The show’s tagline is “Dave and Jenny Marrs are renovating one historic house at a time, until it’s almost home!”

The 60-minute episode will focus on the Marrs’ efforts to renovate an historic home in downtown Rogers. The network provided the following description of the show:

“Dave and Jenny Marrs transform the Newberry family’s historic 1893 house into their first family home. From turning an attic space into two bedrooms, an office and a bathroom to completely renovating the kitchen and living area downstairs, they’ll do whatever it takes to give this young family of five their dream home.”

Dave Marrs has been involved in the renovation and building of residential properties in Benton County, mostly in downtown Bentonville, for several years. His company was discovered by chance.

The network, Jenny Marrs explained, was looking for “unique small towns” to highlight for new programming. Northwest Arkansas was on the radar, and Carrie Regan, director of programming and development for HGTV, asked a friend of hers who works for Wal-Mart Stores if she could recommend any developers in the region who might make a good fit.

The inquiry led to Dave and Jenny Marrs.

“This was totally out of the blue for us,” Marrs said. “And we actually said no at first. We were proceeding very cautiously, but Carrie and the entire production team were amazing to work with. We wanted to make sure the area is shown in a good light.”

Marrs said the bulk of the episode was filmed in June. She stressed the Nov. 7 show is only a pilot, and there haven’t been any additional shows ordered. It’s a possibility, but the network wants to wait and see how the pilot episode performs.

“We have no expectations, honestly, and if nothing comes from it, it was a fun experience,” she said. “If [HGTV] wants a full season, we’ll take a deep breath and go from there.”