Bourbon, Beale …Dickson?

Is Fayetteville’s Rowdy Street Settling Down?

During the 1980s, Dickson Street was known for its rowdy bars, head shops and the occasional homicide.

Since the Walton Arts Center opened in 1992, Fayetteville’s entertainment district has been undergoing a metamorphosis. About $65 million in private money has been invested in the downtown and Dickson Street areas over the past decade. Some 45 restaurants and bars exist within the entertainment district. But the slow evolution from unsavory to upscale hasn’t come without some growing pains for Dickson Street.

Grand improvements are planned, but Dickson Street is still uncertain of its identity. Like Otis Campbell stuffed into a Sunday suit to sing for the mayor of Mayberry, Dickson Street has some shiny new restaurants, but its history still bulges from the seams.

Although some of the old haunts are still there, most are undergoing some sort of improvements, and new businesses are moving in.

“The image of it being rundown and dangerous is gone, and we no longer have boarded-up store fronts on Dickson Street,” said Bootsie Ackerman, director of the Downtown/Dickson Enhancement Project.

“Dickson Street obviously hit its low before the Walton Arts Center came in. It’s going to grow,” said John Gilliam, owner of Ozark Brewing Co., a Dickson Street hot spot since 1994 and the city’s No. 5 restaurant last year with gross sales of $2.09 million.

Gilliam made the comment from a bar stool at the “brew pub”, only feet away from the spot where a pool player was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1980, when the business was the Whitewater Tavern.

In 1992, Gilliam and his partner, his mother Maggie Gilliam, purchased the two buildings at the northeast corner of Dickson Street and West Avenue and sunk an undisclosed amount of money into renovations before opening the Ozark Brewing Co. in 1994.

The upscale, wood interior of the brew pub seems a world away from a random shooting. And businesses like Gilliam’s spawn more of the same. Gilliam said he can remember a fight breaking out in the brew pub only once in the seven years it has been open. He said about 65 percent of the brew pub’s revenue comes from food sales. The rest is from alcohol sales. In addition to being a restaurant, the business is also a microbrewery.

Although there are no boarded-up storefronts on Dickson, Gilliam said there are too many empty buildings there.

“Dickson Street is in transition right now,” Gilliam said. “We have too many vacancies right now. It’s unfortunate. I don’t know what to attribute it to.”

Dear Landlord

Some business owners say the the vacancies are due to landlords raising rent because they think Dickson Street is on the verge of booming into a smaller version of Beale Street in Memphis. But that may be assuming too much too soon. So far, some say, sales haven’t kept up with rent increases, so business owners are being gouged by landlords.

Annual rent at the newly renovated Three Sisters Building goes for $16 per SF on the Dickson Street side and $10 per SF in the back of the building, a potential tenant said. That’s a bit less than the $12 to $18 per SF range the landlord wanted last fall. And it’s “considerably” less than rent at the Northwest Arkansas Mall, said Alice Bishop, the mall manager, who declined to give specific numbers.

The mall, however, has considerably higher foot traffic than Dickson Street so retailers would expect sales to be higher there. Dickson Street is primarily a nightspot, but Ackerman said landlords are trying to lure more retail stores to the area.

The Three Sisters rent, however, is more than business owners are used to paying on Dickson Street. But the owners can probably justify it after sinking $10 million into the unique renovation project, which used neo-traditional architecture to blend in with century-old buildings along the street. The Three Sisters Building is owned by John Tyson, CEO of Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, Dr. David Buckley and John Maier.

Despite the complaints about high rent, the Dickson Street area is home to three of Fayetteville’s Top 10 grossing restaurants: Jose’s, Ozark Brewing Co. and Powerhouse Seafood (See food column, Page 30).

Some businesses, like Restaurant On the Corner, left for other parts of Fayetteville because of sudden rent increases. ROTC was a landmark on Dickson Street from 1973 to 1997. That Dickson Street location is now home to Lenny’s Sub Shop, a restaurant chain based in Memphis.

Walton Arts Center

In addition to Gilliam, Joe Fennel, owner of Jose Inc., is quick to cite the Walton Arts Center as the savior of Dickson Street.

The arts center was a collaboration between the Walton family of Bentonville, the University of Arkansas and the city of Fayetteville. The Walton family donated $5 million in stock to help establish the center. Additional funds were raised for its construction, which began in 1990 on the southeast corner of Dickson Street and West Avenue.

The nonprofit center currently has a $4 million annual budget, said Terri Trotter, vice president of communications for the arts center.

More than 700 events are held annually at the Walton Arts Center. They include events by the UA, the North Arkansas Symphony and Ozark Stageworks in addition to private receptions.

Walkin’ in Fayetteville

The sidewalks along Dickson Street, Block Avenue and around the downtown square are about to be replaced with concrete and brick walkways to help connect the square to the entertainment district.

The Downtown/Dickson Enhancement Project has been trying to make the two areas one in the minds of pedestrians by encouraging them to park and walk instead of driving from one business to the next.

Ackerman said it’s only three blocks from Dickson Street to the downtown square, and the new sidewalks, streetlights and landscaping will make a “safe and comfortable” stroll.

The sidewalks will be etched with a large diamond pattern. Address numbers and brick-and-limestone “doormats” will be installed in front of each building. One side of the sidewalk will be lined with red bricks, probably two bricks in width, Ackerman said. Some intersections will also have brick crosswalks. The new sidewalks will line Dickson Street from the intersection with Arkansas Avenue to College Avenue.

The city has estimated that the sidewalk, lighting and landscaping project will cost about $2.3 million. The Downtown/Dickson Enhancement Project has raised $1.8 million of that amount, with $1.5 million coming from the U.S. Highway and Transportation Department and $300,000 coming from the Dickson Street Improvement District, which collects taxes from businesses to improve the area.

Ackerman said she hopes bids will be let in mid-April after the appropriate right of way is acquired along the route. Construction is expected to begin this summer and take nine to 12 months to complete.

Similar improvements are also being considered for East Avenue from the square to Dickson Street, and for Mountain Street from the square to School Avenue, since a new city library is proposed for the corner of School and Mountain.

Ackerman said the city is also working with the University of Arkansas to place a “rampaging Razorback” design in the street at the intersection of Arkansas Avenue and Dickson Street on the edge of campus. Private donations are being sought to help fund that project, which is expected to cost from $25,000 to $30,000.