FCRA approves $1.6 million deal for new warehouse construction
by April 21, 2023 4:37 pm 3,939 views
More industrial warehouse space and residential living areas are coming to Chaffee Crossing.
The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (FCRA) on Thursday (April 20) approved the sale of 29 acres located on Mahogany Avenue in Barling for $1.6 million.
The FCRA Board of Directors approved the deal, value at $40,000 per acre, with Brooks Norris with Norris Warehouse 1, LLC for the construction of a minimum of 100,000-square-foot industrial distribution warehouse space, said Daniel Mann, FCRA executive director and CEO.
In August, the board approved the sale of 61 acres on Mahogany Avenue to VanTrust Real Estate (VTRE) to construct an 825,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility. The board approved the sale at $40,000 per acre or roughly $2.4 million for the warehouse project.
Mann, who is provided a 2% commission on property transactions as part of his employment contract, earned $80,000 on the two property deals. Mann’s base salary, not including benefits, is $124,610.40.
“We still own another 90 acres in that area for warehouse distribution,” Mann said, noting that the announced extension of Interstate 49 between Alma and Barling is the leading cause of the interest in warehouse distribution in the market.
When complete, the new section of I-49 will be 13.7 miles long between Alma and Barling and include a new bridge over the Arkansas River. The work is expected to be done in multiple phases over the next several years, with major construction not expected to begin until 2024. An estimated $270 million from the recently-passed Issue 1 will fund the project.
The design review committee of the FCRA board also approved design for The Fort Retail and Storage phase 1 by DeWayne and Kay Jones. The design includes four temperature control storage buildings as well as 3,400-square-feet of self-storage buildings on Highway 255.
Other designs approved include 38 townhouses and 47 single family homes on Chad Colley Boulevard, south of Torraine Lake in the Greenwood School District in Chaffee Crossing, and a mixed-use development by Norris Kindrick Properties on Massard Road adjacent to Missionary Baptist Church that will include 14 triplex (42 residential units), 13 townhouses, 110 apartments and 10,000 square feet of commercial space.