New Center in Bentonville

The one private developer who has jumped into the ring is Curry & Hobbs, a limited family partnership based in Fort Smith and a developer of hotels around the country.

Bill Clodfelter already manages one of the firm’s hotels, the Clarion Inn in Fayetteville. When Curry & Hobbs’ newest hotel and convention center opens in Bentonville next year, Clodfelter will be area manager, supervising operations at both the Bentonville and Fayetteville facilities.

Construction began just days ago on the $8 million facility, which will feature a Clarion Hotel, a Sleep Inn and 26,000 SF of meeting space.

Despite that new center, Clodfelter supports the town center in Fayetteville.

“I think it’s a great idea, and I think it’ll be surprisingly successful,” he says. Further, “I think it’ll provide a long overdue boost to the Fayetteville economy. I think it should have been built two years ago.”

Clodfelter says he doesn’t really see his new convention center competing with the Fayetteville town center.

“An exhibition hall is not a convention center, therefore I don’t really consider it direct competition. Yes, we will share some of the same groups and some of the same market, but if you want to book a convention, you’re not going to book an exhibition hall.”

He says uses for an exhibition hall are broader than for a convention center. A town center should attract more than meetings and conventions.

Clodfelter would, however, have chosen a different site for the Fayetteville town center. He understands the desires of many city officials to revitalize downtown and supports those desires.

But, accessibility is often key to booking exhibitions, and downtown Fayetteville is less accessible to the region than, say, the bypass. A highway location would have eliminated many traffic problems, including parking, which will be an expensive component of the center as proposed, Clodfelter says. The money that will be used to provide parking spaces might have been better used to make the center larger, he believes.

Snapp says other sites were considered.

“We looked at the Hatfield property across from the Hilton and at bypass locations. The bottom line was there was not enough money to afford a complete facility with break-out meeting rooms and eating space,” she says. A downtown location, it is hoped, will revitalize the area.

“We’re hoping it’ll do for downtown what the Walton Arts Center did for Dickson Street,” Snapp says. In other words, an infusion of public money, followed by private investments.