Health care is the future for NWA developers

Commercial real estate development and construction in Northwest Arkansas is “remarkably healthy,” according to the most recent Arvest Skyline Report released in late September. The proliferation of buildings under construction makes it easy to see the incredible growth throughout the region over the past 20 years.

One particular area that has contributed to the health of our commercial real estate market is the medical sector. Based on data and projections, it is likely that the construction of new health care facilities will continue to play a major role in commercial real estate development over the next 20 years.

Last year, the Northwest Arkansas Council and Heartland Whole Health Institute released their Healthcare Vision 2030 report, which presents a picture of the state of health care in the region. My interpretation of this report is that we have made great strides in growing the size and scope of health care to serve our growing population over the past five years, but we still have a long way to go to meet our current and future needs.

I have worked for Arvest since 1992, when I was a University of Arkansas student and the region’s population was less than 250,000. Back then, we didn’t really have a regional health care network. We had local health care providers operating in each of the region’s major cities.

Today, the population in the region has grown to over 600,000, and health care providers have expanded to include Arkansas Children’s Northwest, UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, Highlands Oncology for cancer treatment, and in 2025, a new medical school, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.

Even with this growth, we still have a long way to go in terms of health care infrastructure and offerings, as population projections say that the region will have a population of 1 million by 2050.

From 2018 to 2023, we saw $529.5 million in health care infrastructure investments, including the expansions of Mercy, Washington Regional, Arkansas Children’s, Highlands Oncology and UAMS. Projections for additional health care infrastructure investments through 2030 are estimated at nearly $2 billion, including the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Heartland Whole Health Institute, UAMS, Arkansas Children’s and Highlands Oncology expansions. And these major projects don’t include the growth of private practice, specialty and physician-owned clinics and offices.

So, what does this mean for developers and construction companies? It means that over the next 25 years, a significant amount of new health care facilities, clinics and medical offices will likely be built to meet the growing health care demands of one of the nation’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas.

As a region evolves from a patchwork of cities into a regional metro area, there is an expectation that the health care community will grow to a point where residents don’t have to travel to another market to receive the care they need. To get to that point, Northwest Arkansas’ health care infrastructure needs to expand significantly.

As a banker who has worked with many physicians and health care companies, I understand that designing and building health care infrastructure and facilities is different from office buildings, restaurants and retail stores. The architecture firms, general contractors and even banks who want to be part of this rapidly growing sector will need to develop the specialized expertise and knowledge required to be a viable player in this space.

Our region needs to grow the local health care community and offerings so that residents can receive the specialized care they need close to home. For this to happen, we need our local architects and commercial construction companies to be ready to meet the specialized needs of the health care industry.

Editor’s note: Xochitl Baxter is senior vice president and private banking manager for the Fayetteville and Springdale regions at Arvest Bank. The opinions expressed are those of the author.