Why is Old Downtown Rogers, Arkansas Struggling? (Fayetteville, Benton: relocate, gated)

[RogersArkansas]

We moved here recently and took a stroll today in the old downtown business district in Rogers, Arkansas. We were disappointed in how many vacant and seemingly abandoned commercial buildings were in the area. Can someone tell me why the westside and the Pinnacle Hills area is booming with new shopping and upscale housing, but the old downtown Rogers business district with all the historic buildings seems to be struggling and abandoned by the rest of the city?

[Stormcrow73]

I'm certainly not overly knowledgable of all of the dynamics involved, but I think there are a couple of main factors. One factor certainly at play is that downtown Rogers is not nearly as readily accessible as the west side. It can take quite a while to get across town from 540 into downtown. Another major factor is that NWA is currently overbuilt with commercial space. This drives down rates of the newer spaces making the old non-competitive. If you've ever seen some of the guts of some of those buildings, you know that a lot of them need a great deal of work! They may be attractive but they are horribly energy inefficient. There's just not much reason for business to try to hold on in that area with reduced traffic and higher costs. If the owners of these old buildings would bring them into the 21st century and make it so what little revenue the businesses make don't go out the window in heating and cooling bills, then maybe there'd be some level of incentive to stay.

[DC at the Ridge]

I agree with Stormcrow's assessment. There are also problems finding the right tenant mix, balancing retail establishments with offices, while there are some apartments on the upper floors, some of those second floors are strictly storage, and some are very ad hoc offices. So at night security can be an issue. I would love to see the old hotel turned into something fabulous, though.

DC

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

I agree with Stormcrow's assessment. There are also problems finding the right tenant mix, balancing retail establishments with offices, while there are some apartments on the upper floors, some of those second floors are strictly storage, and some are very ad hoc offices. So at night security can be an issue. I would love to see the old hotel turned into something fabulous, though.

DC

DC, I had heard that Benchmark is building a brand new building downtown. Is that true? That has the potential to help things a lot but it also means that 2 full buildings will be vacated!!

I think Rogers needs to turn Walnut into a divided parkway and reduce the light count to speed up transit time to downtown.

[DC at the Ridge]

Benchmark currently has offices downtown, and I've heard they are involved with a major renovation of some of the other older buildings. I haven't heard that they are building a brand new building, but then I haven't been to any city planning meetings lately (I love those meetings!). Aren't they building the "green" office building across from Daisy on 2nd Street?

I'd love to see Walnut turned into a divided parkway, and I'd like the old brick streets to become more of a feature, even setting up a small trolley and closing them off to vehicles. There is potential there, so I hope this all works out.

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

Benchmark currently has offices downtown, and I've heard they are involved with a major renovation of some of the other older buildings. I haven't heard that they are building a brand new building, but then I haven't been to any city planning meetings lately (I love those meetings!). Aren't they building the "green" office building across from Daisy on 2nd Street?

I'd love to see Walnut turned into a divided parkway, and I'd like the old brick streets to become more of a feature, even setting up a small trolley and closing them off to vehicles. There is potential there, so I hope this all works out.

That's precisely the building I was thinking of. They were supposed to relocate their offices there but I found a Morning News Article from '06 reporting it. I'm guessing the plans have changed particularly if they're renovating the buildings they're currently in. Maybe Mr. Parks realized how them moving could possibly devastate downtown.

I agree, the area has SOOO much potential! I love to walk around down there. Iron Horse is one of my favorite coffee shops too! Love that place!

[fancygal]

Ft. Smith Church and Drugs?

I just posted this before I found your post. Thinking alike.
I am from around Houston and in Texas alot of the places use these old buildings to turn into lofts or high dollar businesses. Many with state monies.
Sad and strange to know it is going on in Rogers as well.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by RogersArkansas

We moved here recently and took a stroll today in the old downtown business district in Rogers, Arkansas. We were disappointed in how many vacant and seemingly abandoned commercial buildings were in the area. Can someone tell me why the westside and the Pinnacle Hills area is booming with new shopping and upscale housing, but the old downtown Rogers business district with all the historic buildings seems to be struggling and abandoned by the rest of the city?

It's part of what is happening many places throughout the USA and other countries as well. Quite often, these historical areas get refurbished and a new life, but think about it? Would you rather shop in a location like Pinnacle Hills with restaurants, trendy stores, good parking, bright and light everything or in an area with nothing but a few antique shops? I don't mean this as a put down by anymeans, it is just fact....Add to it, the ease of getting to the various locations: Rogers is a few miles off the highway, Pinnacle Hills is right there. I hate to see this happening to so many towns and cities, there is nothing as delightful and charming as walking through nostalga.

NIta

[bagelw]

Benchmark has moved out of downtown. They did build a new building on 2nd street but it is down furthur near hwy 62/102. So basically all the space that they had rented out is now empty.

I really wished the city of Rogers would see the potential in downtown but they are too busy pushing the Pinnacle area to care. I for one could care less about the Pinnacle area and believe that if Rogers isn't careful they are just going to allow the downtown to become a rundown poor area of town with high crime. The historical museum had even discussed moving out near Pinnacle but thankfully someone on the board realized how stupid that would be and are now planning to expand in their current location. If Benton county would go to a wet county I could see potential in downtown becoming a restaurant/bar entertainment district much like Fayetteville has done with Dickson. This would allow for condos and lofts to work.

The last I heard was that a NY based company currently owns the old hotel in downtown and were planning on turning it into condos but since everyone seems to be moving out of downtown they put that project on hold. I'm not sure what the latest is on that though.

[bchris02]

Originally Posted by nmnita

It's part of what is happening many places throughout the USA and other countries as well. Quite often, these historical areas get refurbished and a new life, but think about it? Would you rather shop in a location like Pinnacle Hills with restaurants, trendy stores, good parking, bright and light everything or in an area with nothing but a few antique shops? I don't mean this as a put down by anymeans, it is just fact....Add to it, the ease of getting to the various locations: Rogers is a few miles off the highway, Pinnacle Hills is right there. I hate to see this happening to so many towns and cities, there is nothing as delightful and charming as walking through nostalga.

NIta

Pinnacle Hills is the worst thing to happen to NWA. It could be in any suburb outside of any city in the USA. It has absolutely no character whatsoever, yet it has become the epicenter of the whole region. It used to be Fayetteville WAS Northwest Arkansas but because of Pinnacle Hills, that mantle is being passed to Rogers. Developers had the chance to go dense and urban, but instead thought investing in flashy strip malls and gated subdivisions were a better idea. Because of this, NWA has become the posterchild of unsustainable cookie cutter car-centric suburban sprawl.