Construction Begins at Evelyn Hills

The demolition of the old 55,000-SF Montgomery Ward store in Fay-etteville’s Evelyn Hills Shopping Center is complete, and construction has begun on a 25,000-SF area that will house Ozark Natural Foods.

Montgomery Ward closed the store last year along with several others around the country.

The demolition changes the configuration of the shopping center, since Montgomery Ward had an auto repair department that jutted off one of the existing buildings in an L-shape. The renovated building, when complete, won’t have the dogleg extension, but a 12,000-SF outbuilding is planned for an area of the parking lot in front of Ozark Natural Foods’ spot.

Brent Mann says the outbuilding may house a restaurant and speciality shops. Mann is vice president of leasing for the building’s owner, Weingarten Realty Investors of Houston. The outbuilding won’t be constructed, however, until a tenant has agreed to lease that spot.

Ozark Natural Foods will take up about 13,000 SF of the new area in the shopping center. The health food store should open in Evelyn Hills by late summer, Mann says.

Mann says the entire renovation will cost “in the millions of dollars range.”