Phoenix Expo to be area’s largest event, convention space

The owners of FSM Redevelopment Partners are betting that an almost $4 million investment in portions of the old Phoenix Village Mall to transform it into a more than 80,000-square-foot meeting and expo center will be bring in the crowds.

In January 2009, FSM Redevelopment Partners LLC purchased the 35-acre site — bounded by Phoenix Avenue on the south, Towson Avenue on the east and Wheeler Avenue on the west. The once poorly-maintained site contained more than 10 acres of structures and was the first enclosed mall constructed in Arkansas.

Lance Beaty, a partner in FSM Redevelopment, is planning to turn more than 115,000-square foot of the retail space once used by Venture and Atwoods into a “premiere” meeting and event space — the Phoenix Expo — that will attract everything from business meetings and banquets to antique shows and gun shows.

The expo center features will include a grand entrance, wireless access, breakout rooms, two separate full kitchens, large bathrooms and 80,000-square-feet of expanse that can be configured into seven different spaces. Got a big audience? The space can handle about 2,200 people in a ballroom format. It will have the most space of an expo or trade center in the area, but it’s ceilings aren’t as high as the Fort Smith Convention Center.

“We are developing it where is is more convention oriented … but the space will certainly be flexible for what I think will really be a wide variety of uses,” Beaty said. He said once up and running the center and other adjacent properties will require 6-10 people managing the grounds.

Part of the flexibility includes having four full-truck doors and eight vehicle doors into the space.

“With the doors, people can load and unload out of the weather,” Beaty said.

The crowds and the loading and unloading will hit before the expo space is completely finished. Jennifer Bradley, owner of Conway-based Jenifer’s Antiques will use the space Jan. 9-10 for Jenifer’s Antique Alley, a vintage and collectible antique show expected to draw more than 80 booths and up to 15,000 visitors and customers.

About 120 vendors originally committed to the show, but bad weather in various parts of the country caused some cancellations, Bradley said.

Bradley has big expectations for the antique show, which will hit the Phoenix Expo the second weekend of each month. By the end of 2010 she predicts the show will feature at least 500 booths/vendors and crowds that will make Beaty happy.

“By the time my show grows we will have 50,000 to 100,000 (people attend) over the course of a weekend,” Bradley said, adding that such traffic is not unusual at similar vintage and collectible antique shows around the country.

Claude Legris, executive director of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau, has seen the space and is in the process of learning more about the overall plans. But he likes what he knows about it so far.

“We’re excited about the potential for people to do more events in the city. The more product, the more attractive the packages we can put together,” Legris said. “It is our intention to make it (Phoenix Expo) part of the package when we talk to people about bringing an event to Fort Smith, Arkansas.”

Legris already has a lot of space in the city to package. The Fort Smith Convention Center has a little more than 40,000-square feet of space, there is about 24,000-square-feet at the exposition building at Kay Rodgers Park, and the Fort Smith Event Center in downtown Fort Smith has between 30,000-40,000 square feet of space. There is also meeting and event space at area hotels, the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, area schools and area churches.

Based on growth of group events in the area and anecdotal reports of difficulty in finding space on some weekends, Legris “is convinced” the area does not have too much meeting and event space.

Beaty is betting on the sentiment behind Legris’ conviction.

Part of the $4 million investment by FSM Redevelopment on that portion of the 35-acre site will renovate 80,000-square-feet immediately north of and attached to the expo space. Beaty’s vision is to transform the former bland interior of the mall into a “Phoenix Main Street” setting for up to 175 local vendors selling everything from craft items to produce to car parts.

According to Beaty, the mall floor will be “crowned” and marked to look like a real street with faux sidewalks, side walls painted to look like building fronts and a sky scene painted on the ceiling. Vendors will be required to occupy the space Thursday through Sunday. He hopes to open the space by late September.

“This will be different. This will be a space, an environment that you won’t find anywhere else (in the area),” Beaty said.

The old mall has another 70,000 square feet for a phase II if the first Main Street phase succeeds.

Will it succeed? Can the city support more retail space?

Beaty is not certain but he’s confident.

“I’m talking to a lot of people and more of them seem optimistic about 2010. … I think people are leaning forward a little bit, you know, ready to move out of this (recession),” Beaty explained.

Part of his confidence may be rooted in the comments received about the ongoing renovation of the entire 35-acre site.

“We had no idea of the goodwill we would get from this (renovation). We really didn’t anticipate that from the community. I mean, there has been a lot of goodwill because people are glad it’s being cleaned up and restored so that it’s a valuable part of the community again,” Beaty said.