Buffington Homes begins 95-acre master-planned community in Benton County

Developers held a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 16 to introduce a new master-planned community in southwest Bentonville that will provide over 400 homes on 95 acres.

Fayetteville-based Buffington Homes, one of the region’s largest luxury homebuilders, is the property developer, and company officials say they don’t intend Opal Park to be just another fenced-off subdivision.

“A walkable, mixed-use community at this scale is not something that Northwest Arkansas has,” said Mary McGetrick, the company’s director of land acquisition. “The region has some smaller, ‘new urbanism’-type communities that have been built but nothing at this scale.”

The site is at the intersection of Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard and Southwest Barron Road, east of the Benton County Fairgrounds. Buffington paid Cynthia Coughlin $3.95 million for the land in May 2021. Danville-based Chambers Bank helped finance the purchase.

Opal Park will have various housing types and sizes ranging from 1,800 to 2,800 square feet. The property will feature a promenade along Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard, potentially including restaurants, childcare providers, and other commercial uses.

McGetrick said Opal Park was created with the natural and native environment in mind instead of clear-cutting the site.

“We combed survey maps from as early as the 1830s to determine the best native and drought-resistant species,” she said. “We will work with a specialized native plant team to recreate and support the high prairie that once flourished on the site.”

Other year-round amenities planned at Opal Park include a community building, bird-watching stations, multiple trails, a swimming pool, pickleball courts and numerous pocket parks.

McGetrick said Opal Park’s first phase construction includes a boulevard, a centralized stormwater park and roughly 150 homes. Flintlock Landscape, Architecture + Building of Fayetteville and engineering firm Crafton Tull of Rogers are also working on the project. Moses Tucker Partners in Bentonville is marketing Opal Park’s commercial and retail side.