Come on down

We’ll find room for y’all

Whether it’s through transfer from other locales or an influx of new hires, Springdale is preparing for an onslaught.

A wave of executives will crest upon the Ozark Plateau early in 2023 as Tyson Foods consolidates and expands its corporate operations. Tyson has called home to about 1,000 corporate employees as it closes offices in Chicago and Dakota Dunes, S.D., where they currently work.

Some won’t relocate and may be replaced with new hires. Whatever the final count, it’s safe to say several hundred highly paid workers are on their way.

Be prepared to add some deep dish to Northwest Arkansas’ delicious cultural gumbo. Maybe schnitzel or figgy pudding, too. Prepare for those expatriate flags in the Boston Mountain breeze proclaiming allegiance to Spartans, Badgers and Buckeyes, more stuffing served at Thanksgiving, and sigh, likely more soda pop.

All of which we’d lament if it weren’t for the expected rise to an already high standard of living for which Springdale and the region have become known.

More high-paying jobs are on the way, and therefore more families with more disposable income who’ll do more buying, building, accessing local services, and in general, just contributing. Call it ripple effect or trickle-down. From Springdale to Star City. The result is the same.

That they may do so with funny accents is a small price to pay. Northwest Arkansas has long served as the South’s brackish northwest buffer zone anyway, guarding the rest of the state from the hordes from exotic-sounding places like Joplin and Omaha.

As the Waltons began to transform Benton County, and Walmart vendors arrived to stake roots, the region came to represent a wonderful crossroads where north meets south, Rockwellian town squares were given chic makeovers, and high-end new construction advertised opportunity.

Taking a cue from its retail counterpart in Bentonville, Tyson is hoping corporate consolidation can have a similar effect, if on a smaller scale, and is revamping its corporate HQ to accommodate the incoming wave.

Springdale was once known as Fayetteville’s grittier, more blue-collar neighbor, home to the Tyson and George’s chicken empires. And the Poultry Capital of the World is home to them still. (The region’s minor league baseball team, Springdale-based Northwest Arkansas Naturals, goes by the moniker Thunder Chickens once a year.)

Business has been good over the years, and Springdale has reaped the benefits. Which means Arkansas has.

Tyson now is the nation’s top meat producer by sales; it realized $53 billion in revenue this past fiscal year, thanks in part to its 2014 acquisition of Hillshire Brands, maker of Jimmy Dean sausage and Ball Park franks.

But growth and expansion resulted in corporate executives spread from Springdale to across the upper midwest. The Wall Street Journal reports that most of the soon-to-be-former Tyson execs in Illinois and South Dakota — many having worked in those offices for up to two decades — are opting out of relocation. And we understand. Home is important. Some people don’t want to leave. God be with them and theirs as they look for gainful employment. But for those who do opt to follow their companies down South … .

Welcome y’all!

Based on recent C-suite hires at Tyson, replacements for those who do could come from anywhere. The COO of pork giant Smithfield Foods will take over as head of Tyson’s beef and pork unit on Jan. 1, and the CMO of Coke’s North American division is coming aboard as Tyson’s new chief growth officer.

That’s Virginia’s Hampton Roads region and Atlanta from which Arkansas is pulling.

Earlier this month, Tyson paid $19.34 million for a 130,000-square-foot former Sam’s Club-turned-call center in Springdale to accommodate the new hires. Meanwhile, expansion and remodeling are planned for the corporate HQ on Don Tyson Parkway.

City and regional leaders are bracing for the wave. Absorbing expats from California to Cape Cod has become something of an NWA specialty. And the president of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce is ready for them, telling the paper the consolidation is representative of the Tyson family’s commitment to the community.

“One thousand jobs is wonderful for any city . . .” he deadpanned. This isn’t the first time 1,000 families have moved to the region, he said.

Those families will need places to live. And those abodes are on their way. Any visitor to the region could attest to its hyperactive construction, from upscale homes to condos and apartments. That’s what this new wave will require.

With just a 2.3% overall vacancy rate for multifamily housing in NWA per the latest Arvest Skyline Report, new construction will have to play catch-up, and then keep up, with the region’s continued growth.

Planning commissions from Elkins to Cave Springs are, well, planning. New subdivisions and apartments have been approved. Springdale has expanded roads and built new fire stations and parks through voter-approved bond issues.

But the city had to place a moratorium on new builds in its southeastern quadrant because pumping stations didn’t have enough capacity to serve the number of homes springing up.

Those stations currently are being expanded and a new water main planned, and the Arkansas Highway Commission has several road infrastructure projects planned or underway in town.

There are worse problems to have. Despite a region challenged by its growth, we suspect any Tyson transplants from Chicago or Sioux City or Hampton Roads or ATL will be pleasantly surprised by what they find in Arkansas.

They’ll still find NWA quite the bargain. And quite the cultural hidden gem. How long it can remain this way — that is, hidden — is the $64,000 question.

Now, we might have to put out a guide to the proper usage of the word “y’all”. . . .