Commercial Promises Slow to Realize Around XNA

The face of Northwest Arkansas was changed forever with the 1998 addition of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in the rural Benton County town of Highfill. Four years later, many people still wonder when the area around XNA will get a facelift.

Upscale commercial projects have been multiplying like rabbits around the western edge of Rogers and the southern tip of Bentonville, the nearest cities to XNA. But there is still about 15 miles between XNA and the next nearest business district, and only one stretch around Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s gargantuan distribution warehouses on Arkansas Highway 12 has been developed commercially.

Developer Michael Horn of Dallas has had big plans for another stretch on Highway 12 ever since XNA was dedicated in a ceremony involving then President Bill Clinton. His plans for the 249-acre spread 3.4 miles north of the airport have finally been sent to the Bentonville Planning Commission.

Horn originally said his “seven to 10-year plan” on what is known locally as The Old Farm would call for an office, retail and residential complex. More specifically, he planned to build 10 restaurants, six hotels, eight office buildings, about 400 apartment units, two convenience stores, a bank, a day-care center and retail stores on the land.

Horn is a lawyer and president of the investment firm Risknet Corp. A spokesman at Horn’s office, told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal that the plans before Bentonville “won’t be anything real exciting. There’s no 90-story hotel or anything. But things are moving along as they should be.

“It’s just hard to convince someone to put a restaurant out there if there’s no hotel. We do have several people interested in putting a hotel there.”

The spokesman said a hotel commitment should be firmed up by June. He also expects an office building to be built within the next two years.

Horn is also developing land near George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

The southern entrance to XNA is a different story.

Ed Hendrix of Elm Springs owns much of that real estate, including the vacant buildings just outside the entrance. He also said the roads around XNA are “the main hold up.”

In fact, Budget Rental Car was interested in putting a facility on Hendrix’s land three years ago, but that company hasn’t expressed interest lately.

Commercial real estate agent Bill McClard of Lindsey & Associates said the development will probably take place from the city to the airport, “except for immediate uses that are needed by the airport.”

“I think it will be a period of time before there is a great demand for a lot of development out there,” McClard said.

There has been no additional commercial development in the Cave Springs area east of the airport.

Walter Gray of Siloam Springs did develop Straube Park, a 38-acre facility adjacent to the Wal-Mart distribution center. The development includes a restaurant, truck stop, convenience store and other buildings. It is 3.5 miles south of Rainbow Curve in Bentonville. There have also been rumors of a hotel planned for the Rainbow Curve area.

The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System did purchase land near XNA recently with plans for commercial development.

“[Development] is all driven by availability of water and sewer,” said Scott Van Laningham, executive director of XNA. “They’ve got both at the airport and coming out from Bentonville.”

The Benton County Rural Development Authority last July 18 got two loans from the United States Department of Agriculture totaling $1.32 million to build new water lines that would benefit towns near XNA, including Tontitown, Cave Springs and Highfill.

The Osage Basin Sewage Project has also purchased nearby land for a treatment plant.