Pinnacle Gang Gets Feet Wet in Lowell

Two bold forays into Lowell recently by The Pinnacle Group, the powerhouse Rogers development firm, are not a signal that the quartet behind the 500-acre Pinnacle Hills district wants to conquer the entire region. Bill Schwyhart, one of the principals, said the group’s members already have individual investments throughout Northwest Arkansas.

The team collectively, however, remains focused on the Interstate 540 corridor in Benton County. The latest ventures after all — the purchase of the 25-acre Lowell Business Park on the southeast corner of the I-540 and Arkansas Highway 264 intersection and the announcement the group will build a water park on the southwest corner — are just two exits south of Pinnacle Hills.

The Pinnacle Group consists of Schwyhart, J.B. Hunt, Tim Graham and Robert Thornton.

John George, director of marketing for The Pinnacle Group, said the Lowell office buildings will simply enable the firm to incubate more lease business.

“There might be companies that aren’t quite ready for a really upscale office park like Pinnacle,” George said. “This gives us a chance to still serve some people maybe in some smaller offices, and then when they’re ready to grow or upgrade, we can serve them better.”

The office park was acquired from THF/BAV Lowell Development Group LLC in St. Louis for an eight-figure sum. The exact price of the transaction is not yet available, but it is in the tens of millions of dollars.

Michael H. Staenberg is managing member of THF/BAV. The park is adjacent to the corporate compound of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and is eight miles from the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport.

It includes three existing multi-story buildings totaling more than 110,000 SF. George said that space is 92 percent occupied. Among the tenants is shipping broker Transplace.

“We will rename the Lowell park in the coming weeks,” George said. “We will be seeking restaurant candidates to fill three or four restaurant pad sites and we plan to build additional Class A office space.”

When built out, Pinnacle Hills is expected to include more than 1 million SF of upscale office and retail space.

City Holds Tax Luau For Makahiki Beach

Seventeen acres of the 30-acre development will be the water park, Makahiki Beach. There will be room to add what George said could be additional amusement features. Additional pieces to the entertainment venue being sought include a couple of fast food restaurants, George said.

The Pinnacle Group will build the $12 million project and hope to achieve $28 million in first-year revenues. It’s set to open by Memorial Day 2005.

Lowell’s City Council voted on June 1 to give $450,000 worth of incentives for The Pinnacle Group to build its new water park across I-540 from the Lowell Business Park. It was the largest incentive package ever awarded to a private venture by the city of about 6,000 people, officials said. That money will go toward a variety of road and intersection improvements on Goad Springs Road (the property’s west side) and Arkansas Highway 264.

Lowell is also kicking in a connection for Makahiki Beach to a $1.7 million septic tank effluent pump system.

“We’d like to be able to extend the water park’s season with a mixture of indoor and outdoor activities,” George said. “But right now we’re still finalizing the architectural and engineering drawings. We’re not in a crunch. We want to just make sure we structure it so we can accomplish what we want to do over the next five years.”

Features at Makahiki Beach are expected to include six slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, luau area and a 60-foot concrete and steel steaming volcano. Revenue would also come from concession stands, the restaurants and a convenience store.