FCRA approves Chaffee real estate deals

story by Aric Mitchell
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Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority members convened for the second time in April, this time for a vote on approximately $3 million in real estate offers from Liberty Rose, Blake Properties, R.J. Properties, and RUM Inc., in the Chaffee Crossing district.

While Liberty Rose, R.J. Properties, and RUM, were approved, the FCRA passed on the Blake Properties offer. Voting had been originally scheduled for the April 21 meeting, but there was not a quorum present to enable action.

The two largest offers — for $1 million and $620,000 — were tendered by RUM, a local developer comprised of Jim Meadows and Ronnie Rouse, for two 40-acre parcels of land. The $1 million offer is for land located at the northeast corner of Chad Colley and Massard Road, and is zoned as “mixed use-commercial” by the FCRA.

According to FCRA Executive Director Ivy Owen, the development will be “similar to the Hendrix College development at Conway with commercial and retail centers scattered in.”

This parcel will also include the Maness School House, which will be maintained by the buyer to standards of the National Register. It is not yet known how the Maness School House will be used, though Owen said the “initial intention was to make it a community center.” The second offer is for an additional 40 acres on Chad Colley just south of Massard. The land will be used for family housing consisting of apartments and other multi-unit rentals.

In addition to the two bids from RUM, board members entertained dueling offers on 20 acres of land at the northeast corner of Chad Colley and Massard Road. Blake Properties had bid $550,000 with request for a $50,000 utility credit on the property formerly set aside for the $21 million PRADCO Inc., manufacturing facility.

Since that project stalled, the FCRA Real Estate Review Committee recommended moving forward on the sale, but it wasn’t Blake Properties that secured the deal as initially planned. Little Rock company R.J. Properties made a late entry offering the same price minus the utility credit, and met with unanimous board approval. Plans are for commercial use.

The Liberty Rose sale was orchestrated between owner Mike Tankersley and the FCRA for a sum of $30,000 per acre and approved at the March meeting. Tankersley’s request on Wednesday was that the 5-acre parcel be moved east by a distance of 50 feet away from the existing gas well so his company could make full use of the property for multi-family housing developments.