Development to add 263 apartments in Bentonville

BENTONVILLE — A development with more than 250 apartments coming to downtown may help provide a residential population needed to sustain downtown businesses in the long term, a city planning official said after Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting.

The development will be on 11 acres bounded by Southeast J Street to the east, Southeast Third Street to the south, Southeast G Court on the west and East Central Avenue to the north.

It begins just south of Casey’s General Store and swings behind Better Home Living — an assisted living facility — to the west and stops right behind the homes on the east side of Southeast G Street.

It’s within the downtown district, which is bounded by J Street to the east.

Commissioners approved 6- 0 rezoning the land to planned unit development. Commissioner Tregg Brown was absent.

The western 7 acres will consist of eight three-story apartment buildings. There will be 263 apartment units, according to meeting documents. The eastern four acres will have two or three four-story mixed-use buildings for commercial and office purposes.

Parking will be adjacent to the mixed-use buildings. There will also be a half-acre community park in the center of the development.

The development will be built in two phases.

Seth Mims, partner and president of Specialized Real Estate Group, gave a presentation explaining the development group as nontypical and the project as unique.

“We absolutely put the community at large and the health and well being of the future occupants of the project at the very top of the planning process,” he said, adding each of the company’s projects are unique, which creates scarcity, driving demand.

Commissioners approved 6-0 rezoning the land to planned unit development. Commissioner Tregg Brown was absent.

Mims walked through everything from building material to locating near the trail system to connecting neighbors through site layout and amenities, such as a community garden and public park, which, he said, is larger than the park in the downtown square.

He explained how he was going to address a drainage issue beyond what was required. He also went into detail about how the development would add to the tree canopy to provide a functional and aesthetically pleasing buffer between the development and nearby homes.

The six residents who spoke after Mims asked questions rather than state opposition to the development.

Scott Harris, resident of Southeast Third Street, had more specific questions regarding the traffic the development would bring along Southeast Third Street.

The developer will improve the north side of Southeast Third Street, which will include on street parking, said Troy Galloway, community and economic director.

The on-street parking will be separate from the travel lane, which is 10 to 12 feet wide.

“In no way would the onstreet parking be allowed to infringe on the existing travel lane,” Galloway said, adding on-street parking and lane widths can be used to help control motorists’ speeds.

“As you’re coming down Third Street, it doesn’t look like your typical apartment complex,” Mims said, ending his presentation with an illustration of what the development will look like from Southeast Third Street. “It’s not a bunch of buildings and a sea of parking.”

The development will provide workforce housing at market rate as well as add resident population to downtown, Galloway said after the meeting.

Bentonville’s daytime population swells during the working day, and people eat at restaurants and shop at stores during the day, he said.

“That’s good, but it’s not enough to sustain some of these businesses,” he said. “When you start looking at restaurants, when you start looking at grocery stores and the things associated with downtown, you have to have a resident population to sustain that over time.”

Specialized Real Estate Group also built Uptown Apartments at the southwest corner of West Joyce and Steele boulevards in Fayetteville. The project’s first phase is open, and the rest should be open by summer, according to the developer’s website.

Uptown includes 300 apartments and about 17,000 square feet of commercial space as well as a public art program, green roof outdoor lounge and a community garden, the website states.