Traditional Neighborhood Development Partners’ plan for an urban-style

Traditional Neighborhood Development Partners’ plan for an urban-style village adjoining Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, was featured in a Page One article in the Feb. 7 New York Times. The college is contributing 130 acres across from the main campus and will invest $8 million to $10 million in the first phase of the “Village of Hendrix,” said President Timothy Cloyd. Noting that today’s students yearn for urban settings, Cloyd said, “You can’t market yourself as bucolic.”

Construction is to begin this year on the development, which will include stores, restaurants, offices, a charter school, and nearly 200 detached houses, many with rental apartments above their garages. The plans also envision 400 townhouses, apartments, and loft-style condominium units. “It is about creating walkable places that are sustainable and gratifying on a human scale,” said Robert Chapman, managing director of the development company. Architecture for the village is being produced by classical architect Milton Grenfell, a partner in TND Partners.

The Times noted that developments with some combination of shops, restaurants, housing, and offices — to encourage street life and social interaction — are in the works at about a dozen other colleges and universities nationwide, including the University of Connecticut at Storrs; Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina; Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; and Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.