Developer Josh Brown staying in Jonesboro

Rumors that Jonesboro businessman and commercial real estate developer Josh Brown plans to move away from Northeast Arkansas’s hub city are not true. Brown told Talk Business & Politics that his family has already bought another house in Jonesboro after selling their family home on May 30.

His former house sold for $2.5 million and it’s reportedly the most ever paid for a house in the city. Brown said the house wasn’t on the market, but a person interested in buying it contacted Brown through a relative and a deal was brokered.

“No, no we’re not moving,” he said.

Besides the house sale, there are other reasons why people might have thought he was moving. Brown has a lot of business interests in Northwest Arkansas and in other parts of the mid-south. He has also voiced serious concerns about the city’s crime rate and the decline of other livable metrics in the city.

“I have concerns … I’ve been very vocal about that. I think we can fix these issues, but we need the right leadership to do it,” he said.

Brown is the commercial principal at Haag-Brown Commercial Real Estate and Development. The company has several major projects it’s currently working on Jonesboro.

One is a strip mall that will be adjacent to Chicken Salad Chick on Fair Park Boulevard. The new shopping center will be about 7,020 square feet. They are in the permitting process right now, but building should be erected in the next 6 months and should be completed in 9 months if there are no delays.

Another major project should be announced near the proposed Amazon last mile distribution center that will be built on the Joe N. Martin Expressway on Moore Road. Details can’t be released yet, but Brown said that project and several others are in the works.

“Our pipeline in Jonesboro is completely full right now,” he added.