NWA huge growth, why? (Little Rock, Fort Smith: appointed, to buy, luxury)

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by thewizard16

^ This. Most of the NWA growth isn't just from Arkansas relocation (there may be some of that, but it's not the main driver of growth), but from new families and residents moving in from out of state for jobs, etc. Like aerotive said, the conditions were just right for huge growth in the 90s-2010. Walmart was doing well and expanding rapidly, which with it's policies about vendors caused large numbers of white collar/educated jobs to be available in the area. Tyson, JB Hunt, and several other large locally based businesses were experiencing growth and hiring people. The U of A was coming out of a relatively stagnant period by raising huge amounts of money and entering a growth phase, brining new jobs, economic development, and more students to the area. With more high level jobs, service and entertainment sectors expanded to serve those residents, hospitality expanded to meet the growing demand from business and leisure travelers coming to the area, the construction industry experienced a nearly 20 year boom, a new airport was built to help connect NWA more readily to business (and leisure) travelers, and we can't forget that I-540 was also completed in the 90s, making access to the area from the south infinitely easier. Things just sort of came together for the area in those two decades.

I don't think that I-540 was a factor in the growth as much as it was a response to the growth. While obviously it made the commute between cities easier, I think access to the area from the south was streamlined by the Hopper Tunnel.

My parents moved to Northwest Arkansas in the 70's. And they didn't move here from Massachusetts for jobs. They moved because Northwest Arkansas was beautiful, because taxes were lower than Massachusetts, because my father preferred the climate, because they were concerned about violence and drugs in the schools in Massachusetts.

There's no doubt that Wal-Mart, Tyson's, and J B Hunt have driven the economy in Northwest Arkansas and been responsible for a significant amount of the population growth. But there are many retirees moving to the area, and many people move here who will never work for the big three corporations, and their reasons should not be overlooked.

[oldtimebanjo]

Thanks for the replys everyone. For those of you who have lived there for 10-20 years or more, has the growth been positive for you?

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by oldtimebanjo

Thanks for the replys everyone. For those of you who have lived there for 10-20 years or more, has the growth been positive for you?

I think as with anything there are pro's and con's.

I believe that progress tends always to be a good thing, and progress and growth have been hand-in-hand in Northwest Arkansas. That said, the growth has consumed a lot of farmland, and a lot of history, and with the growth there have been growing pains as well.

[OurGreatEscape]

30 year resident (although my family has been here for many generations), I can say, "yes", the growth has been good for me

I can remember saying, "gosh if we could just get a Gap". Then it was "if we could just get an Olive Garden".

With the growth, we now have a thriving arts community-one we didn't have 20 years ago.

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by OurGreatEscape

30 year resident (although my family has been here for many generations), I can say, "yes", the growth has been good for me

I can remember saying, "gosh if we could just get a Gap". Then it was "if we could just get an Olive Garden".

With the growth, we now have a thriving arts community-one we didn't have 20 years ago.

20 years ago, the Rogers Art Guild was a thriving concern. It had a space downtown where they rotated members work. They had classes and shows. I know that Bentonville had an equally vibrant arts community. And of course, Eureka Springs has always had wonderful artists in a variety of mediums.

I take your point that the art community has grown substantially over the past decades, and the artwalks and various exhibitions, as well as the publicity over the upcoming Crystal Bridges museum have brought much more public attention to the artists in the area. But we have always had an arts community in Northwest Arkansas.

[bagelw]

Originally Posted by oldtimebanjo

Thanks for the replys everyone. For those of you who have lived there for 10-20 years or more, has the growth been positive for you?

I would not be here if it wasn't for the growth.

[Gallbaro]

The growth wont continue.

Fayetteville is pretty much at its peak, its main problem is the fact that it has no job base apart from the university. It is just too far from the jobs in Benton County, when their is already so much space to fill at closer distances. Also the limited capacity and linear infrastructure will never result in that commute getting easier. In addition, the only other differentiator Fayetteville has, the "culture" is slowly getting stripped away to Benton County and will just leave a college bar scene. Fayetteville's attempts at attracting the "green" industry are also doomed to failure, likely because Arkansas experiences a perpetual brain drain, and the students from the University of Arkansas are not the top tier graduates that will dominate that field. So why would a young, liberal and in desperate need of highly educated people company come to Fayetteville?

Springdale may be a great beneficiary of Tyson's growth in China, but I do not know enough to speak on the subject of international chicken demand.

Benton County will still experience growth, but how many jobs can walmart create? Not many more. While they will not leave their dinky shack anytime soon they have realized that centralizing management in one location is past the point of diminishing returns and will no longer continue that strategy. They are starting to leave their international people, at international locations and have already moved many domestic positions to more appropriate locations, such as fashion to NYC.

The bottom line is the area will not attract any new companies, it actually never has. Jobs will always have to be derived from the current base. That is very difficult when your graduates flee the state.

[thewizard16]

Originally Posted by Gallbaro

The growth wont continue.

Fayetteville is pretty much at its peak, its main problem is the fact that it has no job base apart from the university. It is just too far from the jobs in Benton County, when their is already so much space to fill at closer distances. Also the limited capacity and linear infrastructure will never result in that commute getting easier. In addition, the only other differentiator Fayetteville has, the "culture" is slowly getting stripped away to Benton County and will just leave a college bar scene. Fayetteville's attempts at attracting the "green" industry are also doomed to failure, likely because Arkansas experiences a perpetual brain drain, and the students from the University of Arkansas are not the top tier graduates that will dominate that field. So why would a young, liberal and in desperate need of highly educated people company come to Fayetteville?

Springdale may be a great beneficiary of Tyson's growth in China, but I do not know enough to speak on the subject of international chicken demand.

Benton County will still experience growth, but how many jobs can walmart create? Not many more. While they will not leave their dinky shack anytime soon they have realized that centralizing management in one location is past the point of diminishing returns and will no longer continue that strategy. They are starting to leave their international people, at international locations and have already moved many domestic positions to more appropriate locations, such as fashion to NYC.

The bottom line is the area will not attract any new companies, it actually never has. Jobs will always have to be derived from the current base. That is very difficult when your graduates flee the state.

There's a whole lot of inaccuracy in your post that makes your whole view of future growth flawed, but I don't want to go through and dissect your post right now. At any rate, I do agree with you that the "brain drain" of Arkansas is a problem that will affect future growth unless it can be reversed. The U of A has actually done a very good job at attracting more qualified, more competitive students in the past decade, and are now listed as the highest level of Carnegie Research Universities, so it's not that we can't draw talent and brains to the area, it's just hard to keep them here. There is a lot of potential in the green tech sector in Fayetteville since this area actually does some very cutting edge research in that field, but it's going to need money and talent to build that reputation and attract new industry/business.

So while I agree that the area needs to be bending over backwards to encourage new business development and retain an educated workforce, I think you're way off on Fayetteville's peak and the area never having attracted new companies.

[hurrication]

I grew up in Fort Smith, and I think 540 played a larger role in NWA's population boom than people give it credit for. I can remember driving up the old 71 to go see basketball games at the college. It was such an arduous drive, and it is a VERY dangerous (yet fun) stretch of highway. People from Missouri and the river valley didn't go to NWA unless they needed to. When they finished 540, it cut the travel time down to 45 minutes and turned out to be a gorgeous drive. When I got my own wheels, me and friends used to drive up to NWA almost every weekend for the nightlife on Dickson street and at the college. The mindset was that Fayetteville had a mystique and was T-H-E party town of the area, almost like going to Las Vegas. Actually, a huge number of people do this. Sports at the college results in droves of people flocking into the city on gameday. There is a significant number of people who live in FS and commute to Fayetteville for work. There is a Shell gas station where 540 passes Rudy that has a huge parking lot next to it. Commuters that work at the same place park at that lot and carpool to NWA. It has just become so effortless to get to the area now and it's essentially turned into a "hub" for that whole area (NEOK, SWMO, NWA).
My dad's mother's family settled in Tontitown in the early 1900's and after looking at some of her old pictures of the area it's hard to believe what it's turned into. Even I can remember when there was a good 15 minute drive through farm land to Tontitown and when there was actually a distance between Fayetteville and Springdale... and I'm only 27. Now, it's all just one big metropolis.

[Craziaskowboi]

Wal-Mart.