Springdale Schools Gets New Campus

The structural steel framing is 95 percent complete and the exterior block 20 percent complete on the education wing at the new 385,000-SF Springdale High School on Jones Road. Crossland Construction, the general contractor, started work on the 123-acre middle school and high school projects in August. The site work for the middle school is complete.

The architect on the project is Wittenberg Delony & Davidson Architects of Little Rock. Two Fayetteville firms, Green Anderson and McGoodwin Williams Yeates are doing the mechanical and electrical engineering and site engineering, respectively.

The schools are set for completion in July 2005. The high school follows a “Jeffersonian” design style that will have wings adjoined by enclosed hallways. A two-story rotunda will be the entrance to the media center.

The high school, valued at $21.7 million, will have a student capacity of 2,000, about 105 classrooms, a competition gym, practice gym and auxiliary gym totaling 50,000 SF, a 10,000-SF cafeteria, 25,000-SF auditorium, 15,000-SF arts wing, a 10,000-SF agriculture lab and classroom area, and a 12,000-SF training facility adjacent to the new football stadium.

The 126,209-SF middle school, valued at $7.1 million, will feature four classroom wings totaling 15,000 SF each, a cafeteria, commons and stage area totaling 12,000 SF and 13,800 SF worth of gym and locker room space.

LEC Ups Ante For Fayetteville

LEC Properties of Birmingham, Ala., recently bought 13 building permits valued at a combined $18.9 million to build apartment units in Fayetteville.

The complex is located just north of the Meadow Vale subdivision.

LEC is the general contractor on the project. Architects Collective of Tulsa is the site architect and engineer, and Jerry Kelso of Crafton Tull & Associates of Rogers is the civil engineer.

The upscale apartments will have one-bedroom units ranging from 779-814 SF, two-bedroom units ranging from 1,148-1,182 SF and three-bedroom units ranging from 1,319-1,352 SF. A partial opening of the complex will take place in July when 270 units will be available. The site eventually will have two clubhouses and resort-size pools, a weight room, laundry facilities, a business center and high-speed Internet access, and the apartments will have detached garages.

The developers, Crowne Fayetteville LLC, also of Birmingham, secured a $15.4 million mortgage in July through South Trust Bank in Birmingham to build the 40-acre complex.

Crowne Fayetteville, of which Alan Z. Engel and Alan D. Levow are members, also bought 40 acres in July from American College Consultants, a Memphis general partnership in which John R. Ellis is a general partner, for $2.5 million. Crowne Fayetteville bought 28 acres in July at the same site from Helen Adams for $675,000.

The Crowne Fayetteville project is the first in Arkansas for Engel and Levow. They do business as Crowne Partners of Birmingham and own, manage or have under development about 5,000 multifamily units in nine states.

Winberry Builds Sage Homes

Winberry Builders Inc. of Lowell recently bought 31 building permits valued at a combined $6.4 million to build homes in the new 86-lot Sage Meadows subdivision in Fayetteville. Homes will range from 1,500-2,200-SF and will sell from $96,000. About 10 homes are currently under construction. Next Generation will be building out the entire subdivision and then selling the homes.

Next Generation Residential LLC of Rogers, of which Ben Israel, J.B. Hunt, Phil Phillips and Tom Muccio are principals, is the developer. Trey Trumbo and Mike Muccio are managing partners in the development.

It bought the Sage Meadows land from Dunnerstock Development Inc., of which Mark Foster is president, for $3 million in July and secured a $1.9 million loan for Sage Meadows through Fayetteville’s Community Bank of North Arkansas in August.

Jenny Talley of Dixie Real Estate in Fayetteville is the leasing agent for the subdivision.

Crossroads Cooking On South Walton

Sellers Properties Inc. has completed the site work on a 20,166-SF retail/office space at the intersection of South Walton Boulevard and 14th Street in Bentonville. The estimated valuation of the building is $2.5 million. The building has been approved by the planning commission and is in planning review stages. Crossroads Enterprises Inc., of which Barry Cooksey and Max McGaugh are partners, is the developer. About 11,000 SF has been leased or secured intent. A tanning salon has signed a lease. A mailing and shipping store, a hair salon, a national restaurant chain, and a local restaurant chain have all signed letters of intent.

Regions Bank of Rogers is financing the construction. Crossroads bought the 5.1-acre parcel in 1991 from Askew Enterprises Inc. of Fayetteville for $400,000.

ICE Inc. of Little Rock is the structural engineer and Miller Boskus Lack Architects of Springdale is the architect.

Cooksey, along with partner Marcella Hagan in Hagan Company LLC and Ray Jones of 67 Development Inc. has plans for a 16,000 SF office/retail building adjacent to the new REMAX building on Moberly Lane in Bentonville. The building awaits large-scale development approval from the city and developers are in the pre-leasing stage. Hagan Company and 67 Development bought the 1.78-acre parcel from J. Thomas Atherton Inc. in September for $450,000.

The land will also eventually include another 24,000-SF retail/office building.

Walnut Woods Working in Siloam

Leon Davis of Siloam Springs recently sold out his 22-lot Phase I of the 120-lot Walnut Woods II subdivision. Phase II of Walnut Woods II has begun and 25 of 27 lots have been sold. Phase II lots average in size from 0.19-acre to 0.22-acre and sell from $23,500-$25,000 with a 1,600-SF minimum. Homes average 1,650-1,750 SF.

Steve Young of Steve Young Construction in Siloam Springs and David Pitner of Pitner Construction in Siloam Springs are both builders in the subdivision.

Davis bought the land four years ago from the John Fenno Family or about $585,000. Arvest Bank-Siloam is financing some of the development.

Davis also recently sold the Patriot Park subdivision in September to Patriot Park LLC for $323,000. Fritz Steiger and Jim VonGremp are principals in the 43-acre development. There will be 85 single family lots and 50 multifamily triplexes in addition to 3.5 acres of property zoned for commercial. Patriot Park subdivision is located off Cheri Whitlock Drive near the intersection of Lincoln Avenue.

Patriot Park LLC secured a loan valued at $2.2 million through Arvest Bank-Bentonville in October for the construction of the subdivision and the land purchase.

Bridge Links Office Space

Bridge Builders Inc. recently began construction on a 10,000-SF office building valued at $1.2 million in the Janus II business park at 711 S.E. J St. in Bentonville. Keating Enterprises Inc., of which Bill Keating and Dick Keating are principals, is the developer. Bridge Builders Inc. is a Keating Enterprises company. Perry Butcher & Associates of Rogers did some engineering work for the building and is the architect.

The building is part of a two-phase project that includes two 10,000-SF office buildings in each phase. A 50,000-SF office and warehouse space has been under construction since June. Busey Schmidtberger Engineering of Lenexa, Kan.,was the engineer for the warehouse and Crossland Construction Co. of Rogers is the general contractor. The entire 12-acre project has an estimate build-out value of more than $10 million. Arvest Bank-Bentonville is the financier.

Keating Enterprises has also begun construction on a 10,000-SF office building valued at $1 million on Sunbridge Drive in Fayetteville. Bridge Builders is the general contractor. Butcher is the architect and Jorgenson & Associates of Fayetteville is the civil engineer. The building should be complete by June. The building sits on the last lot in the more than 40 acres Keating has developed along Sunbridge Drive in the past five years. First Security Bank of Fayetteville is financing the construction.

Ledbetter Bets On Retail Project

C&L Commercial of Springdale continues construction on a 17,000-SF, L-shaped retail center located at 1602 East Robinson in Springdale.

Kim Ledbetter of C&L Properties in Springdale is the developer of the $1.5 million center, East Pointe Plaza, that sits on 2.6 acres. Space will lease at base price of $10.50 per SF. Jim Key of Key Architecture Inc. in Fayetteville is the architect and Joe Looney of Joseph Looney & Associates in Lowell is the engineer.

Arkansas National Bank in Fayetteville financed the construction.

TAB CHART

November Mortgage Reports

Benton County
?
Rank	Lender	Value	% Share
?
1	Fleet National	$50,000,000	26.34%
2	First Security Bank	$36,919,329	19.45%
3	Arvest Mortgage	$18,500,701	9.75%
4	Bank of Arkansas	$16,522,123	8.70%
5	Regions Bank	$9,213,595	4.85%
6	Arvest Bank-Bentonville	$8,372,416	4.41%
7	First Federal Bank of Arkansas	$7,793,400	4.11%
8	Arvest Bank-Rogers	$7,302,558	3.85%
9	First Western Bank	$5,745,150	3.03%
10	Wells Fargo Home Mortgage	$5,709,589	3.01%
11	Great Southern Bank	$5,279,500	2.78%
12	GMAC Commercial Finance LLC	$5,000,000	2.63%
13	Bank of America	$4,447,735	2.34%
14	Bank of Rogers	$4,160,905	2.19%
15	Bank of Gravett	$2,478,487	1.31%
16	Arvest Bank-Fayetteville	$2,383,160	1.26%
	Total	$189,828,648
?
Washington County
?
Rank	Lender	Value	% Share
1	Arvest Mortgage	$14,533,650	12.59%
2	Guardian Life Insurance Company of America	$13,000,000	11.26%
3	First Federal Bank of Arkansas	$12,202,450	10.57%
4	Arvest Bank-Fayetteville	$10,612,972	9.20%
5	Arvest Bank-Springdale	$9,155,661	7.93%
6	First Security Bank	$8,198,927	7.10%
7	Community Bank	$6,826,132	5.91%
8	United Bank	$6,196,392	5.37%
9	Arkansas National Bank	$5,585,937	4.84%
10	First Community Bank	$4,534,521	3.93%
11	First State Bank of Fayetteville	$4,061,600	3.52%
12	Bank of America	$4,040,702	3.50%
13	Bank of Arkansas	$3,873,000	3.36%
14	The Bank of Fayetteville	$2,744,527	2.38%
15	Simmons First Bank	$2,737,276	2.37%
16	First National Bank of Springdale	$2,488,360	2.16%
17	Arvest Bank-Prairie Grove	$2,449,819	2.16%
18	Wells Fargo Home Mortgage	$2,172,971	1.88%
	Total	$115,414,897

Source: WACO Title Co.

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