Main Street Looking Better

Farmington Retail Center Now Full With Six Tenants

FARMINGTON — One Farmington property owner has remodeled and upgraded his building on Main Street, and he said he hopes it will encourage other businesses to do the same.

Wallace Andrade Jr., of Lincoln said the retail center at 233 Main Street was an ugly green color and in shambles. Only one-half of the space had tenants.

“We spent a lot of money on it trying to make it nicer for the community,” Andrade said. “We want people to rent from us who can enjoy it and are able to bring in business.”

The retail center now has six tenants and is full.

Andrade and his father, Wallace Andrade Sr., of California own Andrade Properties and have upgraded other buildings in northwest Arkansas. They won the city beautification award for their business Andrade's Auto Sales in Lincoln.

He said they bought the 233 Main Street property about one year ago and created a courtyard in the front for customers and others to enjoy. Other improvements included new paint, wrought iron furniture, landscaping and refinishing the parking lot. Andrade estimated his company spent about $50,000 on the work.

Mayor Ernie Penn said he appreciates the improvements made to Andrade's building.

“It's a pleasure to see people taking pride in our community,” Penn said, adding, “It makes it more attractive to renters and I've very happy with it.”

Improving the appearance of U.S. 62, or Main Street, through Farmington has been a consistent topic of discussion by city, chamber and other community leaders.

Penn said the upgrade of the Andrade property ties directly into the city's goals and objectives to improve the look of the city.

One need identified through the city's strategic planning process, Penn pointed out, was to create a new identity for Farmington so that people do not consider it just a “drivethrough” town.

He said he realizes some people may not be able financially remodel their business but noted that fresh paint and planted flowers along the highway could “drastically” change the look of the city.

A lderman B re n d a Cunningham chairs the city's Beautification Committee and she also hopes businesses and residents will improve their property along Main Street.

“Highway 62 gives an image of our town,” Cunningham said. “Most towns don't have to worry about a major highway going through them but 62 is what we have to work with.”

Farmington's motto is “Feels Like Home” and Cunningham said she wants people driving into the city to see that.

The committee's next project will be to install a second “Welcome to Farmington” rock sign on Main Street, similar to the one on the western side of town.

The new sign will be located on property owned by Legend Realty. The committee also hopes to install old-time lights along Main Street and other areas in town.

The Farmington Planning Commission is considering a landscape ordinance and Chairman Robert Mann said the commission may have something ready to go in about eight months. He said the commission does not want to micromanage businesses but is interested in a unified building code.

“We would like to have an ordinance to guide businesses on how we want the community to look,” Mann said. “We want to maintain the city as it is, a homey place for the family, but at the same time, we want to have some kind of unified look.”

Some examples might be leaving more trees in place, a nice store sign, shrubbery and other landscaping designs.

Mann said the new Dollar General Store on Main Street is a good example. The company agreed to leave some of the trees, plant additional trees and is landscaping the property.

City Business Manager Melissa Mccarville said the planning commission has looked at landscape ordinances from other cities and will evaluate them to see what would work in Farmington. She said it's a balancing act because a landscape ordinance would require businesses to spend more money on their project. She pointed out, though, most cities have some type of landscape requirements for new businesses.

The Farmington Area Chamber of Commerce plans to install banners or flags along Main Street from Rheas Mill Road to Double Springs Road.

The banners would hang from utility poles and should be in place in about six months, said Chamber board member Jodi Hendricks.

The banners would say “Welcome to Farmington” and other flags may be ordered to promote different community events.

“We want people passing through to know they are in Farmington,” Hendricks explained.

The chamber's project would be a joint venture with the city, Hendricks added.